Mega Man 7: Shade Of Tomorrow
by Magus523
Summary: As the families of Light and Wily continue to grow, and the first signs of the world's future begin to unfold, Mega Man is driven ever closer to the dividing line between man and machine. The beginning of the end draws nigh...
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

_ASIMOV'S FIRST LAW: A robot must not harm, or through inaction cause harm to come, to a human being. _

_ASIMOV'S SECOND LAW: A robot must obey a human being, unless doing so conflicts with the first law. _

_ASIMOV'S THIRD LAW: A robot must act to preserve its own existence, unless doing so conflicts with the first and/or second law. _

_WILY'S FIRST LAW: A robot must not harm, or through inaction cause harm to come, to its master, Dr. Albert Wily.  
WILY'S SECOND LAW: A robot must obey its master, Dr. Albert Wily. _

Hello, everybody. My name is Rock Light, although I'm probably more commonly known as Mega Man. If you don't recognize that name either, then I envy you; it means you know nothing of the Robot Rebellions, and in that matter, ignorance is indeed bliss. But it's also too high a price to pay a lot of the time. Which is why I'm here to provide a brief rundown of recent history prior to this chapter of our story. I'd rather not, but my siblings Blues and Roll have both taken their turns, as has my friend Dr. Cossack. Auto's still too young, so that leaves me and dad. So I'm up. I'll try to make this as concise and clear as possible.

I suppose it all really started in 2040. The end of the world as humanity knew it, and close to being absolutely literal. War is stupid enough in any way, shape or form, but when the world's superpowers all start throwing nuclear weapons at each other like upset toddlers with their toys, it transcends that. And, in true human fashion, even when they realized what they were doing and pulled back at the last second, they still needed somebody else to save their asses. That's where the Second Rainbow was created. I understand that it was named for something biblical, but I don't really know of such things. Regardless, its purpose was clear-to save the world. Putting aside all cultural and racial adversaries, it was simple in concept; geniuses from all over the world, pooling their gifts in a desperate attempt to heal the planet before it died. And it worked. The world lived on, and humans as well. Of course, all things come to an end, and after safety was accomplished the group dissolved. And this is where _our_ story begins, with the two men who changed the concept of "intelligent life" forever. Dr. Thomas Light, and Dr. Albert Wily. The fathers of the Robot Masters.

Their personal histories aren't really important, and more importantly, they're private. What does need to be said is that they were both good men, the best of humanity, and it's quite possible that without them even the Second Rainbow may have failed; they were the whizkids of the whizkids, the shining stars of hope. Though vastly different in personality, they were united by their love of robotics, and their desire to help the world that their species had wronged so much. When you put those two together with their talent, it's understandable that they managed to do what nobody else had dreamed of before. A Robot Master, as they named their creation, was a robot that could walk, talk, and act like a human being. For business purposes, it could command other robots and organize them efficiently. For a more artistic standpoint, it could add to its behavior protocols at a rate more advanced than any robot beforehand; it could almost think for itself. And they did it. Dr. Light and Dr. Wily built a Robot Master. His name was Blues.

Paranoiacs, bigots and religious zealots would believe that the building of a Robot Master cursed the world from the start, but it was in actuality two years after that. Light, Wily and Blues were working on another nearly miraculous invention; a matter teleporter. And in the tradition of science fiction stories everywhere, things went horribly wrong. Light was lucky enough to be clear of the device when it went haywire, but Blues was caught up in it and lost, vanished from their sight and all human contact; we would later find out that he had been dropped in the middle of the African Congo with his navigational systems haywire. But far worse than that, both on a personal and a global level, was Dr. Wily's fate. Though he was not teleported, the beam nevertheless affected him; it scrambled his brains, to put it loosely, since I'm not a student of psychology either. At first, he appeared to still be sane, but on that day, the hero of the world he had been died, replaced by a horror beyond any humankind had seen for centuries.

Distraught by Blues' loss, the doctors nevertheless went on to create more Robot Masters. Eight of them. Of those eight, six were meant for the global market, mass-produced by the hundred. Industrial robots, meant for work, their bodies stronger than their minds. The other two, like Blues, were individual, unique models. Twins. Roll Light, whose appearance was female and who developed a personality to match; the only Robot Master to date to do so. And Rock Light. Myself. For the first months of our lives, we were happy and peaceful with Dr. Light, who we regarded as a father, and Dr. Wily, who was more reserved but nevertheless fond to us as "Uncle Al." Until he revealed what he had become, and was lost to us forever.

The world had thought itself safe, now that global peace had been declared, and the United Nations kept things calm. The world was wrong. Armies of robots, cold and merciless, descended upon six valuable resources for the still-crippled planet and killed every human they saw, conquering them entirely. They were led by the six mass-produced Robot Masters, corrupted and reprogrammed to serve their new master. From a seventh location, his "Skull Fortress", with his own unique Robot Master at his side, Dr. Wily demanded that the world submit to his rule. He claimed that his control was necessary in order to safeguard humans from the dangers of robotics at the same time that he used said robots to commit atrocity after atrocity. And the world couldn't fight back. Against the robot armies, humans simply could not fight back. Only another robot could. And so I made the decision that would change my life almost as much as the accident had changed Wily's. I told dad to upgrade me, to make me a fighter. Blue armor covering my body, a plasma buster on my arm, I became Mega Man. And I stopped the Rebellion. I defeated the six armies, and the Robot Masters commanding them. I infiltrated the Skull Fortress, defeated Wily's hologram-using assistant, Doc Man. And I stopped Wily. With him in jail, his armies dismantled, the world was safe again.

It would be nice if things ended there, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, that curse I mentioned had a lot more in it than that. This was proven adequately when Wily escaped, a year later. This time, he created _eight_ Robot Masters of his own design, and stole enough lesser robots to make eight more armies. He even built another Skull Fortress. And all of it was for naught, as I came back too, and put him right back in the slammer. But me and him weren't the only ones who could affect the world. Doc Man, who I had defeated in the First Rebellion, had escaped alive after being disowned by his own "father" for his loss. Like me, Roll, and Blues, he was of a different level than other Robot Masters, his programming almost nearing human thought levels. But after that defeat, he couldn't stand to live with Wily's programming in his head. So, after repairing his body, he worked on his own mechanical mind. A self-lobotomy. His survival at all was a dark miracle, even if his mental state was reduced to a half-functional, whirling mania. But even like that, he could still act; with his holograms, he managed to fake his father's psychological recovery, and Wily ran with it when he got the chance. He even fooled _us_, so I can't blame the government for being taken in as well, much as I'd like to.

So Wily was back, and as far as we could tell sane. And unknown to us all, Doc Man was out there. What did he want? Revenge, pure and simple. On me and on Wily. And I came first. By that point of time, other companies had begin mass-producing their own Robot Master models. Echoing in his creator's footsteps, Doc Man reprogrammed eight of them, and launched a bloodbath of his own; a Third Robot Rebellion, which Wily had no connection to. He was occupied on something else; collaborating with dad to build a gigantic machine that would keep the world safe from any future threat, so that I wouldn't have to keep playing the hero. Nice thought, but foolish in retrospect. They named it Gamma, and built it while I went out again to track down who was responsible for the madness. And to complicate things further, this was when I ran into a _fourth_ party by the name of Break Man, who seemed bent on stopping the Rebellion for his own purposes-nice, except he _also_ wanted to bust _me_ up. But he was rational, and I met him over and over again through the course of the Rebellion, gradually becoming friends with him. By the time I found and finished Doc Man, he was firmly on my side. And with Doc Man dead at last, I thought my personal hell was over.

Think again, past Rock. Doc Man faked Wily's recovery. And thus, when Gamma neared completion, Wily ran off with it, gloating that not even I could stop it. With Break Man's help, I got into the third Skull Fortress, and proved that wrong. The bad news? Wily was crushed in the fortress' collapse. Dead. Gone. But at least the world was safe. And as for Break Man? Turned out he was my older brother Blues, who had finally found his way back only to be tricked by Wily into messing with me. With that all gone, the three of us and dad were a family reunited, and finally at peace. At least for three years. That was a welcome reprieve, but not an end. When those three years had passed, a new threat arose; Dr. Sergei Cossack, a robotocist from Russia who claimed hatred for dad due to being constantly outperformed in the robotics field. Like Wily in the Second, he used his own eight Robot Master designs to launch a Rebellion. There was one silver lining; despite his anger, he was totally sane, and thus used hostages instead of deaths to force my hand. But I had to stop it all the same. And I did.

Does this seem fishy to you? It did to Blues, too. So while I took the spotlight, he investigated, and he pulled in a whopper. Wily had faked his death, and from his fourth Skull Fortress, was forcing Cossack to take the fall for the Rebellion with his _own_ hostage. Cossack's daughter, Kalinka. Blues then did the most gutsy thing I've ever seen in anybody, human or robot; he put his own ass into an ordeal more punishing than any even I've ever done, busting Kalinka out and then keeping her alive through a two-week hike through Russia in the _winter._ Somehow, Proto Man (as he now called himself when a Rebellion was on) managed to keep them both alive, and arrived back at Cossack's just in time to break up my fight with the puppet doctor. Needless to say, I descended upon Skull Fortress IV with enough wrath to split it in half. But this time, Wily escaped. He was back, and I couldn't catch him. I could only watch, and wait.

More years passed. The Cossacks became friends of ours; in particular, the Doctor became our dad's new partner, and Kalinka had developed quite an attachment to Blues that me and Roll loved to tease him about. Speaking of Blues, he was back to wandering, this time of his own volition; he'd check in with our family and the Cossacks a couple times a year, but mostly he went where the wind took him. But what he seemed to take from that left us all reeling. At one point, he had the misfortune to undergo repeated instances of human-to-robot violence caused by bigotry in rapid succession, and vanished off the radar for a while to cope. Understandable. But starting a Fifth Rebellion, with eight hijacked commercial Robot Masters and a mysterious sidekick, in order to raise robots over humans? Not even close. And kidnapping my dad and Wily? Even worse. But it was _good_ this time; again, even my family was buying into it by the end. It came right down to the wire, with me fighting Proto Man, before the truth came out. He had me on the ropes when a _second_ Proto Man appeared. From there, it was easy; that "mystery sidekick", a stooge named Dark Man, was the real driving force. He had faked his "Proto Man" all along with holograms until the real deal revealed the truth to me. And guess who built Dark Man? You got it, Wily.

Hold on a second. Holograms? Yeah, holograms. And a Robot Master who commanded other Robot Masters. _Maybe_ a coincidence. But it wasn't. For this Rebellion, Wily had repaired the creation that had come closest to beating me before, and reactivated him with memory blockers to stop that troublesome hatred. But I destroyed those memory blockers. And with his memory _and_ sanity both present, Doc Man managed to pull the biggest surprise of all, and called off his revenge against me. The details of that last conversation with him will stay with me forever, but before he committed suicide to absolutely destroy himself with no hope of ever being reactivated again, he said one thing in particular. He said that to stop the Rebellions, I would have to _kill_ Dr. Wily. Or he would never stop. And true to that, Wily escaped again.

With all that having happened, I think the circumstances leading up to the Sixth are understandable. You remember Gamma? Well, to be honest, dad and Wily weren't alone in building him. Five other human males, one of which was Doc Man in disguise, also contributed from various fields. Dr. Trent Corbun, a robotocist whose company was the one targeted by Doc Man for his armies. Darwin Vinkus and Donald Richolds, a pair of politicians; Vinkus was actually ex-Second Rainbow, and Japan's representative on the United Nations. The psychologist who had "cured" Wily, Cedric Froid. And the billionaire Olivier Xanthos, who preferred to by known as Mr. X. Richolds and Froid were both dead by the end of the Third, but the other three remained close friends with dad-and by extension, us-for years to come. It was Mr. X who had the idea of laying a trap for Wily. A Robot Master fighting tournament. The eight finalists would be too tempting for Wily to resist, or so Mr. X claimed. And he was right. But not in the way we hoped. Wily killed X, assumed his identity, and launched the Sixth under that falsehood. And even when I found out, this time it was too late to save his scapegoat. But at least I got him. At long last, Wily was returned to jail. The Rebellions were finally over. And with dad building a fourth "child" Robot Master to add to our family, it looked like bright times were ahead.

But sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel goes out.


	2. Chapter 1: Life Without Wily

_**Chapter 1: Life Without Wily**_

At around four AM, the streets of most upper-class neighborhoods in Tokyo, Japan were mostly still quiet and peaceful; even the businessmen who made an early start of their day were still drinking their coffee and complaining about the chill in the air. On one particular street, however, the pre-sunrise calm was completely shattered. The Light residence did not look particularly likely to do such; aside from the egg-shaped laboratory on the side of the house, it seemed ordinary. And yet, despite this, at 4 AM on the dot the garage door erupted outwards in a blast like a bomb had gone off. Two figures, one about the size of a human and the other significantly smaller, rolled out of the garage trailing smoke and ash. After coming to a stop, the larger of the two raised its arms and yelled triumphantly.

"Oh, _yeah!_" Hollering in a deep bass, it rose to its feet and began wiping itself off. "It works! Roads? Where we're going we don't _need _roads! Let's see the highway patrol on _this_ one! I'm a friggin' genius!" With the ash being removed, or at least reduced, the enthusiastic one was revealed to be human in shape only; his bulky form was entirely covered in green and grey metal. A lantern jaw like a steam-shovel and two red halogen lights for eyes only further solidified the obvious point-this was no human. This was a robot. As was his companion, whose shaking off of ash brought to light a suitcase with a face and legs set into the bottom. Facing the other, the little robot began beeping an annoyed message in binary, causing the larger robot to glare down at him. "Hey! Of course I'm a genius! Sure, the door's slag, but I can repair it! And there's no way that baby won't provide the lift we need!" He paused and stroked his chin. "Hm, well, there might be control issues... but we can work those out once it's all installed!" At this, the suitcase robot rolled its eyes heavenward and beeped again, conveying a sense of worry for its future survival even to anybody who didn't speak binary. Which none of the crowd of angry neighbors now gathering did. None of these, however, was worthy of as much of the green robot's attention as the single figure occupying his own front door.

"Auto." It looked to be a human girl, perhaps eleven or twelve, pretty enough for her age with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail and a red bathrobe over a lighter-colored nightdress. Unlike the other two, nothing about her looked the slightest bit robotic, but a robot she was nonetheless, as the neighbors all knew. Murmuring to themselves, they drew back a bit, leaving Auto and the suitcase robot to deal with her. The latter promptly hid behind his larger companion, who could only chuckle weakly.

"Roll... uh, heh heh... hiya, big sister. Did I, uh... did I wake you up?" Auto winced. Roll slowly nodded.

"Yes, Auto. You did. And you also woke up many of our neighbors, as you might have noticed. At four in the morning. People do not appreciate being awakened at four in the morning, Auto." She began to slowly advance.

"Oh, no... I can explain, Roll, really..." Auto held up his hand plaintively. "I was just working on the truck, and I lost track of time... I had no idea it was so late... er, early..."

"Oh, I'm sure you can explain." Roll reached him and seized one of the Frankensteinien bolts that somehow functioned as ears for Auto. "And I'm looking forward to hearing that. At length. In great detail. Inside, where we won't disturb anybody else any more." She shot a bright smile at the other neighbors for a moment, causing them all to retreat a step further; none of them wanted to encroach on her territory and chance joining Auto on the receiving end of his sister's wrath. Reaching down behind him, Roll scooped up the suitcase robot and held him aloft in the air by one leg. "And don't think you're getting away either, Eddie! We told you to keep an eye on Auto to try and stop him from doing these sorts of things!" The little suitcase eeped plaintively. "Don't give me that 'he's the boss when at the workbench' crap! Do I have to get dad and have him _order _you to keep Auto in line?" She began marching back towards the door, dragging the two helpless robots along with her, then paused as she noticed a fourth of the house's inhabitants now standing there.

"Roll. Mind keeping it down just a bit?" The newcomer appeared to be a human male the same age as Roll, but with black hair cut spiky short, and robes and shorts of blue. Again, appearances were deceiving; he was Roll's twin brother, Rock, and he was just as much a robot as she.

"Sure, bro." Roll slowly stopped, lowering her voice to a normal tone. "Just trying to get these two inside before they could cause any more property damage."

"I noticed." Rock spoke without any of his sister's heat, or Auto's enthusiasm; something about the flat, dead tone of his voice and the way it matched his eyes led one to believe it was more than just the early hour. "Auto. You almost gave dad a heart attack."

"I... did?" Auto slowly swiveled his head to stare at Rock in horror. "Really?"

"No, not really." The other male robot corrected himself quickly. Despite his boisterousness, Auto was less than a year old, and still naïve about some things. "It was a figure of speech. You just startled him, that's all. He's probably back asleep already."

"Phew." Auto released a heavy sigh-entirely for effect, since obviously he had no need to breathe. "Man, I almost First-Lawed there. You had me going; dad ain't actually a spring chicken. What is he now, in his sixties?"

"Something like that." Roll agreed. "And he's not exactly in perfect health either. The weight issues, he's been working on, I'll give him. But the pipe smoking..."

"Roll." Rock cut her off once more with a single quiet word. "Please. Dad's the one who needs to hear that, not us. I'm going back to try and catch a few more hours of stasis; I'll help repair the door in the morning." He turned to go back inside, then paused. "Did you at least get it working, Auto?"

"If that jet can't lift a truck off the ground now, I'm a penguin." Auto gave him a solemn thumbs-up, which Rock returned.

"Good. If you've been up all night, you might want to catch some stasis yourself. You too, Eddie. I'll see you all later." He left the door open as he left, and after a few moments the other three robots followed him into the living room.

"You going back up too?" Auto asked his sister, raising a thick steel eyebrow.

"I don't think so... I might as well stay up now." Roll yawned, all trace of her anger dissipated now.

"In that case..." Auto nodded to Eddie, who flipped his top, and the green robot rummaged around inside before pulling out a pair of metal capsules, glowing with golden energy. "Have a pick-me-up, on me. Apologies for the noise and the mess, and celebrating my victory!"

"I'll take that apology, and toast to that." Roll accepted one of the capsules and pulled off the top. They could have simply absorbed the energy, but this was as close as they could get to consuming food or drink; advanced as Dr. Light's robotics designs were, they hadn't quite progressed to that point. Eating or drinking would accomplish nothing aside from messing up their circuits. Instead, they tossed back some of the glowing goo.

"Hey, Roll." Auto flopped down on the couch in front of the television, though he didn't turn it on. The Light family's house was furnished and decorated as if they had been a flesh and blood clan, which was how Dr. Light had always treated his robotic children. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Roll sat down in an armchair. "Go ahead."

"Did Rock ever know how to smile?" Auto asked gravely. "Once or twice, I almost think I can catch him doing so, but never really. Even when Blues comes by for a visit." Blues was the eldest robot in the Light family, a dedicated world traveler who spent most of his time on the road and only stopped by for a short time every few months.

"He used to." Roll looked down into her energy capsule. "More when he was young... and even after that, for a long time, he'd smile whenever he was happy. When we were playing games, or somebody told a funny joke... when dad brought home presents, or when one of our friends paid us a visit..." She shook her head. "Basically, whenever he could be a normal kid. Forget who he was, and just be Rock Light, Thomas Light's son."

"So what happened?" Auto pressed, and now Roll looked out a window.

"Maybe he forgot how to be happy." She murmured. "You've never seen a Robot Rebellion, Auto. Never been there, when hundreds, thousands of people were being killed, and there was nothing anybody could do to bring them back... and the only way to stop it at all, to stop even more death, was for Rock to do the thing he hated most."

"Become Mega Man." Auto knew. He had never actually seen it happen, but he had heard the stories, looked at old news footage. "Become the hero."

"Six times." Roll shook her head. "Maybe if it had been one less, or two... maybe then he'd still smile from time to time. But six was too many." She deliberately avoided mentioning the personal detail of the last Rebellion. The billionaire Mr. X, one of the family's closest friends, had been murdered by Dr. Wily and used as the scapegoat in a sickeningly familiar pattern. Even though Wily had finally been captured and thrown into prison with no chance of release, that hadn't brought Mr. X back, any more than it had any of the other countless victims of the Rebellions. Rising, Roll finished her energy capsule and tossed it into a trash can with perfect aim. "I'm going to go get dressed. I'll be back down in a bit to read the newspaper, then I'll cook breakfast for dad." She went up the stairs, leaving the other two alone, and after a moment Eddie wandered off as well.

"Man oh man..." Auto shook his head. "This kinda stuff is too deep for me. I need something to take my mind off it." A thump from out front signaled a welcome distraction, and the hefty green robot rose to his feet again. "Aha! The newspaper!" Despite advanced technology and the near-extinction of trees, many people still preferred a physical copy for their daily news, and so the printing companies had gone back into business after the Third World War using a recyclable plastic-like synthetic. Leaving for a moment to retrieve the Light family's copy, Auto returned with it shortly and plopped back down in his seat. "Heh heh heh, snagged it before Roll. Alrighty then, let's see how the Devil Bats did this week..." But despite his urge to be distracted, his eyes were not drawn to the sports section, but rather to the portion of the front page that always remained constant. A corner of the paper, dubbed "Wilywatch" by Blues, gave the exact same sentence each day.

_Dr. Wily remains in custody. No changes have occurred as to his condition._

"Just goes to show..." Auto muttered to himself. "Politicians make windy speeches for hours on end without making a single real point, and yet thousands of people need a single sentence of print every morning in order to keep their minds at peace." On the one occasion that a printer error had left a blank spot in the paper where the sentence would normally be, hundreds of frantic people had called the newspaper, television stations, police departments and government offices, terrified that Dr. Wily had escaped custody and that a seventh Robot Rebellion was imminent. Auto had never met Dr. Wily, or "Uncle Al" as his siblings sometimes referred to the man he had been prior to his insanity. His activation had been shortly after the maniac's capture, something for which he was all too glad. Many people were paranoid about the potential evils of Robot Masters like the Light children becoming too much like humans, but though other Robot Masters had been used for untold suffering and destruction in the Rebellions, it had always been a a human hand behind it all, guiding the controls and making the plans. There had been scapegoats-Dr. Sergei Cossack, Auto's brother Blues, Mr. X... even one of Wily's own creations by the name of Doc Man in a complicated series of events Auto had never really understood, and never really had the desire to. At the end of it all, it had always been Dr. Albert William Wily, a name that the entire planet knew and feared by now. Even with the madman locked away forever at last, people still feared, and likely would continue to do so for years after his death. At least the Lights could breathe easier, knowing they would never have to personally step up and stand in the way of the Armageddon again.

"And yet..." Auto groused, flipping the pages of the newspaper until he found his sports section. "Even if it's all over... it's always gonna seem like it was too late, and not enough." Rubbing a speck of ash out of his eye, the youngest son of Light finally succeeded in banishing the dark thoughts from his mind, and lost himself in the words.

----------------------------

"Ah... man, I never get over how good the wind feels up here." A teenage boy, looking much like Rock Light with perhaps a year or two added, grinned as the high-altitude winds ruffled his ever-present yellow scarf. Blues Light, the first Robot Master ever constructed, and currently exploiting the physical advantages over humans that entailed. Namely, being able to simply teleport onto the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and enjoy lounging around up there without fear of frostbite or worse. This high up, there were no clouds present at the moment above him, and so he basked in the sunlight as he lay on his back in the snow, the picture of relaxation despite his locale. "Haha, I love my life." Glancing to his left into the sky, he only took a moment to locate what he had been tracking for several minutes now. A tiny dot in the sky below, slowly resolving itself into the form of a jet airplane as it came nearer, and a lazy grin spread below the gigantic shades that were as part of him as the scarf, half-circles cut diagonally that were practically a foot in diameter. They had been designed to fit into his helmet, but like the rest of his armor there was no need for it to be worn at the time, and so he chose to dress casually in jeans and a sweater-gray and red, respectively, his favorite colors. As the jet finally grew close enough to make out its entire shape, Blues rose to his feet and regarded his companion, who had been perched silent and motionless since their arrival. "About five minutes, wouldn't you say, Mothman?"

There was no response from the gigantic robotic moth, easily large enough to carry several passengers on it back and painted bright purple, and loaded with weaponry. The first Melee Moth, one of Dr. Wily's "fortress guardians", this one had been hijacked and reprogrammed by Blues, and had proven highly useful on numerous occasions. Despite that, its artificial intelligence was low, devoted entirely to combat and following simple instructions. It was simply a quirk of Blues' to converse with any robot, no matter how simple. Blues had a lot of quirks.

"I'll bet his view isn't anywhere nearly as nice as mine..." Blues chuckled to himself, then winced at the thought of what his sister would make of a comment like that. "Good thing she's not here. Or Kalinka, for that matter. She'll be turning fourteen soon; can't count on that sort of thing going over her head any more." Putting that thought out of his head definitively, he stood up and brushed the snow off of his back. "Right, that's about enough of _that_ for the moment. I spend enough time worrying about her as is. For the moment, I've got some fun to concentrate on. Let's go, mothman." Jumping onto the Melee Moth's back, he directed it downward, and the war machine took off silently into the air.

Meanwhile, several hundred feet below, Councilor Darwin Vinkus was glancing out the window of his private jet, idly wondering how the view would be from the top of Kilimanjaro. A portly man in his mid-fifties, Vinkus was Japan's representative on the United Nations and a renowned technophobe, paranoid about the dangers of Robot Masters in particular. Despite this, he was highly intelligent and willing to go against his opinions for a better cause, which had made him into a wary friend of Dr. Thomas Light and an ally to the man's robotic creations-even after associating with them for years, Vinkus still buckled at referring to them as his friend's children, even in his own thoughts. Regardless, he knew them well, and thus was only momentarily surprised when a shadow over his jet resolved itself into the Melee Moth as it pulled over to their right.

"What the hell?" The jet's pilot was far more worried. "Sir, I'll signal the air force immediately-"

"No need." Vinkus cut him off, staring hardly at the interfering robot. Sure enough, riding on its back and waving cheekily was the expected culprit. "That's only Proto Man out there. He's harmless. Well, to us, anyways." _For the moment, anyways,_ his thoughts added darkly, but he severed them as well before going further. "Continue your course as normal. I will handle this when he calls, which I assume will not be long." Sure enough, a moment later the Councilor's cellular phone began ringing, and he quickly answered it. "Blues Light, does your father know where you are and what you're doing?" While most of the world knew the robot he was greeting as Proto Man, Vinkus knew that, like "Mega Man," it was only a stage name used for Rebellions and other media-covered events. In private, like any human, Blues preferred being addressed by his given name. And while Vinkus balked at the comparison, he also had to admit that he and Blues were on better terms than many humans he knew.

"Hey, I'm a responsible adult, Councilor Vinkus." Blues replied easily through his own cell phone from the Melee Moth's back. "He knows I can handle myself."

"Hardly." Vinkus replied with a theatrical roll of his eyes. "Firstly, you're not an adult. Even if a robot _can_ be declared such a thing, which I doubt in the first place, it would doubtless be subject to the same standards as a human, and I do believe you're still thirteen. Second, if you're responsible then I'm a herring. It's a miracle that the incident in the Fifth was the _only_ time you've been arrested. I refer particularly to a certain incident involving Niagara Falls and a tractor which did, in fact, make the news all the way over here. And third, I believe your father has, in fact, threatened that if he has to pay for legal reparations or bail due to you just once, he shall revoke your use of video games at home for the next decade."

"Come on, Councilor." Blues groaned now, covering his ear with his free hand just as theatrically. "I get enough of that from Roll, you know that."

"I've long felt that your sister is by far the most mentally stable individual in your family." Vinkus sniffed. "Well then. If we are finished with the pleasantries, perhaps you would care to inform me as to why you have chosen to interfere with my flight on this occasion?"

"If I said it was just for kicks, would you hate me?" Blues smirked, then dropped it and the joking tone both. "Actually, it's because I'm paranoid and suspicious a lot of the time, and I had nothing better to do. You're leaving your post at the United Nations at the end of this month."

"A fact of which I am well aware, believe me." Vinkus nodded with just a trace of his own humor. After more than a decade on the council, he had grown weary of the tedium and petty squabbling that most of his fellow councilmen found so occupying. The United Nations was currently the presiding force on the planet following the Third World War, and yet on its ruling council Vinkus could only think of five or so representatives who seemed to have any brains at all, and only one aside from himself who _used_ them all of the time. Shaking his head in disgust at the memory of the most recent meeting, Vinkus pressed on. "And it seems I shall depart with Dr. Wily still safely incarcerated, a fact of which I am quite grateful."

"Grateful, I'll buy." Blues conceded. "But trusting? No way. You're as bad-or good, depending on your point of view-as I am in that regard. I won't take my eyes off of Wily when he's been in there for six _years_, and neither will you. And this resignation of yours would be just the sort of thing he'd love. You've been beefing up your security, so I know you're thinking the same thing, and I approve. But this flight of yours has nothing."

"So you decided to take time out from your busy schedule of vagabond wandering in order to provide cover, just in case." Vinkus didn't quite smile, but his mouth did twitch in that direction. "Well, I appreciate the thought, at least."

"Better than being careless and Wily managing to pull something off." Blues shrugged. "He killed Mr. X last time. Bumping off you and Doc Corbun for a domino of Gamma Team survivors leading to dad is exactly the sort of thing that might appeal to that sick freak's mindset. It's best to be on the safe side."

"Indeed." Vinkus nodded. "Well then, I thank you for it, Blues. I'll even neglect to inform your father of this incident once I arrive in Tokyo."

"Hey, I appreciate that." Blues gave him a thumbs-up. "That means Roll won't hear of it either, and she spends enough time running up a rap sheet on what I get up to away from the family anyways. At least these days I can count on Auto to provide a distraction if she goes on for more than ten minutes. He's good at that. Have you met him yet?"

"Oh, yes." Vinkus remarked with lifted eyebrows. "Several times. On one notable occasion, I do believe he succeeded in launching the birdbath previously decorating your front lawn into low earth orbit. The reentry was even more spectacular."

"That's Auto, all right." Blues winced sympathetically. "Dad's brains, but Rush's common sense. Last time I was over there he nearly set my scarf on fire. Good thing I was able to dodge, or else I would have had to seriously pound some sense into him."

"Well, as I understand it that _is_ the prerogative of elder brothers." Vinkus reasoned. "Barbaric, but timeless."

"Some things are like that." Blues shrugged. "Well, I'll let you get back to your reading, then. If robotic death on wings-or propellers, or jets, or hell, balloons-approaches, I'll run 'em off. Otherwise, I'll see you again whenever. Have fun with the next council meeting."

"Thank you _so_ much for that sentiment." Vinkus muttered, not bothering to wave as he turned off his phone and returned to his book.

"Heh heh heh. Sorry, old man, couldn't resist." Proto Man leaned back and directed Melee Moth to rise higher. "Let's see now, where to go next if this pans out okay... maybe Miami, or Perth. Berlin might be nice too... or maybe I'll make another stop by Cossack's place." He grinned broadly up at the sun. "Life's full of options, when you've got everywhere to go and nothing to do."

----------------------------

The room was dark and silent, nearly all power supply to it disabled despite the myriad of technology covering every inch of it. As was the rest of the fortress in which the room was located. This was necessary, in order to keep it safe from prying eyes; in particular, Blues Light had come close to discovering the fortress on more than one occasion. The temptation to eliminate him was strong for the fortress' only inhabitants, but that would give away the secret of their existence, and their master had forbidden that. No, for the time being, their mission was to watch, and wait. Wait for the six-month period to pass.

"Six months..." Bass growled as he sat at the one computer monitor in the facility that was active, the light from its monitor playing across his face. "That's how long he said it would be. Six months since he last checked in with this place, and then the others would awaken." His eyes moved from one line of text on the screen to another, scrolling down with a mechanical implacableness. Fitting. For Bass was a Robot Master. A square four feet tall, like most of his brethren, his helmet boasted a pair of fins that added several inches to that. Black with yellow trim, like the rest of his armor, bulky and thick over his entire body. Only the face was uncovered, angry red eyes glaring from above a pair of harsh purple bands that ran down his cheeks. His name was Bass, and he had been built for destruction. But for nearly six months now, he had waited, silent and unknown, in this deactivated fortress like a powerless ghost. And this had infuriated him.

"Damn it, why isn't it six months yet?!" Snarling in anger, Bass turned and kicked one of the room's walls, leaving a deep dent in the metal surface. Unsatisfied, he then shifted his hand, and a egg-shaped bulge moved along his arm to cover it. A plasma buster, just like the preferred weapons of his enemies. With only a thought, the Buster's matter generators created a bubble of the superheated gas and released it, flying forward to scorch the wall. Several more followed, and for a second, Bass even thought of releasing a charged shot, but decided against it. That kind of damage might cause permanent damage to the wall, and anything like that, to any part of the fortress, would be a weakness. And that was something Bass could not allow, no matter how great his anger. Simmering, he returned his hand to normal and sat down in front of the computer once more. As he did, his only companion stirred with a questioning growl, starting to rise. Immediately, Bass calmed, lowing a hand to scratch behind his friend's ears.

"It's okay, Treble." Bass assured him. "I was just getting pissed off at how long this is taking. Don't worry about it." Under his hand, he felt the lean wolf robot relax, white and purple fur sinking back down. Treble was not a Robot Master, and did not have the intelligence of such, but he was the next best thing, and had provided Bass with welcome company during the time of his waiting. Remembering that, Bass relaxed; at least he had had Treble. The thought of how much worse it would have been if he was truly alone made the Robot Master wince. Banishing all anger from his mind, Bass returned to the data which had occupied him. Information on the past six Robot Rebellions, provided by his father, downloaded into the Fortress' databanks for Bass' education. For obvious reasons, there could be no current connection to the Internet, but Dr. Wily had prepared extensively before his capture. Information pulled from the outside world, pulled from well-meaning humans who had no idea as to what nefarious purpose their labors were being put. No idea who was compiling them, and for whose benefit. No idea as to the very existence of Bass... or, to give his true name, Bass Wily. The true son of Doctor Albert William Wily. The Robot Master who went beyond Robot Masters. Like his "cousins" on the other side of the family; Rock, Roll, Blues, and now Auto Light. His enemies.

"Mega Man. Rock Light became Mega Man." Bass repeated to himself for what seemed like the hundredth time since his awakening. As always, he shook his head in disbelief as he scrolled over the story of the First Robot Rebellion, where it had all began. "A tool user. A laboratory assistant. And he became a hero? A warrior, who defeated entire armies of other robots, time and time again? Who defeated _my father_, not just one but _six times_?" No matter how many times he read it, Bass was reluctant to believe it. And yet, history could not be argued with. No matter how much he hated the very concept of it, the results were plainly evident. Six robot armies had been dismantled, taken apart piece by piece. Six Skull Fortresses had been destroyed. Six bids for world domination had been brushed aside. Six times, Dr. Albert Wily had _lost._ And that went against everything that Bass, in his six months of life, believed in.

"Father... he built me." Bass reasoned to himself. "And he told me that I was strong. And I am. _I am strong._ So then... to build me... he must be even stronger. But... Mega Man beat him. Once might have been luck, but not six times." His hands began to shake, and then his entire body, as for the thousandth time, Bass forced his thoughts through to their inevitable conclusion. "But if Mega Man is stronger than father, and father is stronger than me... then is Mega Man stronger than me? I was built to defeat... to destroy... to _kill_ Mega Man. So if he is stronger, then... then is my entire purpose meaningless? Do I have no reason to even exist?" As always, he tilted for a moment on the edge of despair. But then, he remembered what his father had said upon leaving him, the words that had given him his purpose, his reason to exist.

_"Never forget that you are strong, robot. You are powerful. You were built by Dr. Wily, the greatest genius this world has ever known. That is all that matters in this world. Power. And you have that. As long as you do, you will never lose... as long as you are strong, you will never fall. Remember that, robot."_

"Father told me that." Bass remembered, with a smile like a child. "He told me what was important. Father..." He closed his eyes, and it was only his lack of the appropriate ducts that kept tears from falling. "Father, why did you lose? Why did you leave us alone here?" Shaking his head, he opened his eyes again, red pupils glaring with purpose once more. "Stop that. It is worthless to grieve, to whine and flood with self-pity. I have to be strong for father, and for myself. No, _especially _for myself. I serve father, but father does not serve me. I have to stand on my own feet. I have to be strong for myself!"

_"Father... may I have a name too?"_ The black-armored Robot Master, then nameless, had asked his father that one last question as the genius had departed for his sixth confrontation with his nemesis. And as always, Dr. Wily had provided the perfect answer.

_"Heh."_ The old man had chuckled once. _"You want a name, do you? Then make it for yourself."_ That command had told the robot that he would have to stand on his own, make his own strength, not rely on his father for everything. And as his father had commanded, he had done. Bass was his name now, and it even matched the silly musical theme given to his enemies. And he had taken it one step further, naming his companion as well. Smiling down at Treble for a moment, Bass then turned back to his computer screen, to his mission, to his duties once more.

"Six months. It'll be six months soon." Bass reminded himself. Six months. That was the time until the other four Robot Masters awakened, ready to follow Bass' command. Until the armies of lesser robots activated, eager to be deployed into the field under their commanders for destruction and slaughter. Until the Seventh Robot Rebellion, pouring out from the Seventh Skull Fortress, began. And the robots would free their lord and master, Dr. Wily, to lead them once more. Until Bass would finally meet Mega Man face-to-face.

"Mega Man... your strength is nothing." Bass shook his head. "Your power is nothing. _You_ are nothing, compared to me and Treble and father. This time, you will not win. This time, you will lose." His smile grew into a sadistic grin. "This time, _I_ will kill you. And that is how I will _prove_ myself to be the strongest in the world. Until then, I shall wait. Wait, and prepare, and research you. Everything about you. I'll know it all, Mega Man. All your strengths and weaknesses. And I will _destroy_ you, and take your place as the strongest in the world." The grin widened, and stretched, but there was no laughter. Only silence, and darkness, and waiting in the seventh Skull Fortress, in the isolation and the gloom.

Waiting for a day which would come all too soon.

----------------------------

"Six-thirty already..." Thomas Light muttered to himself as his alarm clock went off. Even the otherwise cheering tunes of the Runaway Five classic he had set it too were unwelcome at this hour. Fumbling with the device, he eventually managed to shut it off, then rose slowly, wincing at the familiar aches and pains. "Hmph... look at me. I can build robots that are a stone's throw from humankind, but I can't do a thing about my own back. Getting old sucks." Throwing on a brown bathrobe over his pajamas, the greatest robotocist in the world added a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers and began his journey downstairs. At sixty-seven, Thomas Light was still more than a little stout around the waist, though he did bear more muscle than most men his age to counter it. His hair and beard were another story; though full, they were completely snow-white, and had been for more than a decade now, a premature turn that he had accepted cheerfully throughout an eternity of Santa Claus jokes. Only his eyebrows remained the deep brown of his youth, and below them, his eyes still sparkled with hope, despite all that he had been through. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he turned to greet his family with a smile.

"Roll, thank you for cooking breakfast. Rock, good morning. Auto..." His smile turned a bit wry as his youngest son winced. "Was that explosion around four the truck _again?_"

"Er... kinda, but not in a way that damaged it!" Auto answered with an admirable display of spin doctoring. "I got it working this time!"

"In other words, only the garage door was destroyed." Roll pointed out as she set the morning's serving of belgian waffles in front of Dr. Light. "Your menu as requested, regardless of caloric content."

"Oh, hush." Dr. Light admonished her with a wave of his fork as he sat down. "It beats what they serve at the fast food joints."

"So does diesel." His daughter shot back as she added a mug of steaming coffee.

"Be glad he's cutting down on his coffee intake." Rock advised her from behind the contemplation of the morning's newspaper; having wisely slept through Auto's and Roll's wrangling over it, he was able to enjoy it in peace once they had both finished.

"Thank you, Rock. And as for you, Auto..." Dr. Light turned the fork upon the youngest Light. "I've just about had it with you and that garage."

"But dad..." Auto tried to look pitiable, without much success, and Dr. Light remained unimpressed.

"No buts, young man. This settles it. Starting today, you and I are going to work nonstop on that separate laboratory for you until it's finished. No more side projects for either of us until that thing's up and running, and that does it."

"Wha... ah, if you say so, dad!" Auto's face brightened up as soon as he realized what his father had actually said. "Even the legs?"

"Even the legs." Dr. Light confirmed. "Enough is enough, and my garage has too many scorch marks as it is."

"Sir, yes sir!" Auto rose and approximated a military salute. "You're the boss!"

"This is how you punish him?" Rock inquired laconically. "Maybe you should leave that to Roll."

"It's how I keep him from causing _more _damage, as soon as possible." Dr. Light corrected, now waving the fork towards the newspaper. "As for punishment, I don't believe I ever forbade Roll from seeing to her own methods of responding to the morning's incident." The smile withered on Auto's face at exactly the same moment as one grew on Roll's.

"Hm." Rock noted. "Now that the sun's up, neither do I. Funny about that."

"Dishes, Auto." Roll announced with a grim smirk. "Now."

"Yes, boss." Auto rose glumly. "Please don't make me wear the frilly pink apron."

"We'll leave it off for this time." Roll graciously consented. "Whether it stays off for the evening and the next few days depends on how well you do."

"Now that's incentive." Rock commented.

"Definitely." Dr. Light echoed.

"So then... " Rock continued. "If you're not going to work on anything else until Auto's lab is built, then you're taking a break from your current secret project?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it does." Dr. Light admitted with a wry chuckle. "Even I'm not perfect; I seem to have reached a stumbling block in their development, so this is actually an excellent time to take a break."

"Haha!" Auto paused from his dishwashing duties to grin. "Even when I screw up, I do it with excellent timing! I should have known!"

"Refer to four AM as 'excellent timing' again, and you _will_ be wearing that pink frilly apron." Roll drawled, and Auto winced.

"I'll be good."

"Rush will be disappointed." Rock observed, ignoring the byplay among his siblings. "Every time he hears that he'll be getting more upgrades, he gets so excited he chases his own tail until he catches it, over and over. Until he remembers that getting an upgrade involves a full physical first." Rush, Rock's red-armored robot dog, was currently out in the woods with Eddie and the family's final member, the round blue bird named Beat. The three of them were all technologically far inferior to Robot Masters, but had developed independent personalities of their own through years of association with their more advanced brethren.

"He'll get over it." Dr. Light shrugged. "Eddie will explain to him that getting Auto's lab up and running will mean more used parts for him to chew and bury, and that'll be that."

"Well, just as long as it doesn't take _too_ long to resolve your mental block." Rock finally lowered the newspaper. As usual these days, his face was bleak, all emotion willfully withheld. "Don't want to be a pain, but... you know." For once, Dr. Light's secret project was not a total secret. While the details were still being hidden, they were known as combat upgrades for Rock and Rush. All of them had long ago given up any belief of a Robot Rebellion being started by any other hand than the incarcerated Dr. Wily, but even so, old paranoia died hard.

"Indeed I do." Dr. Light nodded, a similar bleakness appearing on his own features for a moment. "I wouldn't be working on them at all, otherwise." In another moment, it was gone, a smile gracing his features once more. "But that's a far too gloomy subject for a morning such as this. Breakfast was delicious, thank you Roll. And thank you, Auto, for doing the dishes."

"Yeah..." Auto accepted the plate, silverware and mug from his father with an inaudible addition of something biological or theological.

"I'll go take a shower, then, and then we'll get to work. Don't worry, Rock; I'm sure I'll be back to work on that project soon." Dr. Light waved as he turned and headed back upstairs, more of a spring in his step now that his caffeine was kicking in. Returning to his room, he disrobed and promptly started up a hot shower, relaxing as the steam covered him. "Ah... yes, it won't be long before I'm back to work on that... or on my _other_ secret project..." His smile turned wistful as he thought of that, the work that even his children held no knowledge of. The only ones who had the barest inkling aside from himself had been sworn to secrecy, and with them that knowledge would stay. It had to, for its secrecy was more important than anything else Dr. Light had ever worked on... even moreso than Blues had been, back in those heady days when his hair was dark and his partner sane.

"My next generation."


	3. Chapter 2: Truth Too Late

_**Chapter 2: Truth Too Late**_

"Hey. Rock." Roll was lying on the couch, watching television; her usual fare of whatever strange cartoon was popular at the moment; as usual, today's would be mostly incomprehensible to a casual viewer, and seemed to involve an flying boat crashing into Mount Rushmore. The robot girl's features observed the profound acts of violence enacted upon the airship's pilot by its owner without altering a bit as she continued to speak. "I just thought of something."

"Hm." Rock was also in the room, parked in an armchair and face buried in an old copy of Zelazney.

"Dad and Auto have been down at the Robot Museum working on Auto's lab half the day now." Roll pressed on, undeterred by the lukewarm response. "Dad hasn't come back for lunch, so they're really going to town on it."

"Yup." Rock's reply was slightly more vocal this time, if lacking in emotion. "So?"

"And I just realized, dad said at breakfast that it was going to have_legs._" Roll flickered her eyes over to her brother. "On a _lab._"

"Oh." A few seconds of thought followed, and then Rock finally lowered the book, an actual emotion now barely present in his eyes; anxiety. "You think it'll be bad?"

"Have you _seen_ the truck now?" Roll answered with a mixture of withering scorn and wide-eyed disbelief. "That truck is almost older than dad. It was practically a family member. I _liked_ that truck. And now?"

"Now, Auto's the only one who could drive it in public with a shred of dignity remaining." Rock shook his head. "Special rules for robots be damned, I still say _we_ should have made him wait a year or two before getting his license. Especially now that he's trying to levitate it. Remind me to be somewhere far, far away when he actually gives that a test run. Such as visiting the Cossacks over in Russia."

"You see my point, then." Roll shut off the television with a remote's click and turned her head to face him. "Auto is bad enough by himself. If dad's actually cooperating with him on this thing, who knows how bad it could get. I think we need to go down there and see what's happening." It was a well-contrived plan, which Roll was rather proud of. And thus, she was disappointed and more than a little angered when Rock immediately pulled his book back over his face.

"You go ahead... you should be able to manage without me."

"I don't think so, brother." Roll shook her head. This time, she was going to be stubborn. "I'm going out, and you're coming with me."

"Make me." Rock's reply was childish, laconical, and he obviously didn't care about either.

"Damn it, Rock..." Roll ground her teeth as she sat up and turned a full glare on the back of the book. "What is it with you? It's not just the truck, and you know it. You haven't left this house in two months."

It took a moment, but again, Rock lowered the book to fix her with his gaze. "You know 'what it is with me' very well, sister."

"Yeah, I do, and I think it's stupid!" Roll's voice began to raise now. "All right, so you've been Mega Man so long you're having trouble turning back into Rock all the way. But right now, you're not even trying! Look at you! You can't even show emotion for your own family?"

"Maybe I've given up." Rock suggested.

"Given up on what?" Roll persisted. "On turning back into Rock? So you're going to stay Mega Man? For what? There's nothing _left_ for Mega Man!"

"There is. There's what's always left for Mega Man." Now Rock's eyes flickered to the television, silent and solemn, as if daring it to spring to life with another insulting broadcast announcing the worst.

"The Rebellions are _over._" Roll did her best, put every bit of will she could into that statement, and still it didn't seem like enough. "Wily's done, Rock. He's gone. He'll never do it again."

"Are they?" Now Rock turned back to her. "Is he?" Roll felt like the questions were meant to make her recoil, or flinch. Instead, she held her ground and kept her face as calm as his.

"Yes. They are. He is." This time she said it flatly, mimicing his tone. "And there's no point in waiting for them forever. There's no point in _giving up,_ Rock. It's not like you."

"Pay more attention." Rock started to raise the book once more, then thought better of it; knowing Roll, if he did she'd jerk it out of his hands and set it on fire. "I've given up plenty of times. On each and every single Robot Master I faced. I gave up on saving them. Why not on myself?"

"That's not true." Roll searched desperately for an argument, and quickly found it. "What about Blues, back when he was Break Man? And the guys over at Cossack's, Pharaoh Man and the bunch? They got rebuilt-they're okay now."

"I didn't know what was going to happen with Cossack when I fought them." Rock retorted. "At the time I did, I was resigned to their deaths, just like all the rest. And Blues... Break Man... that was a long time ago, Roll. Before Cossack's, before a lot of things. Am I supposed to keep going forever?"

"No! That's the point!" Roll was yelling now, something that normally made even Rock flinch. "You're _not_ supposed to keep going forever! You can stop now! Stop blanking out your emotions, stop being ready for a fight at any time, stop... all of it! You never have to be Mega Man again!"

"I'm not as confident in that as you are." Rock sighed. "And neither is Blues, for that matter. He's still keeping an eye out for any signs of a seventh Skull Fortress."

"He's paranoid, yes." Roll admitted. "But he doesn't approve of this funk you're in, either! Remember the last time he came by, two months back? He was marching you out around the city every day, and you went with him then!"

"Yeah. He tried. But it didn't work." Rock shook his head and closed his eyes; a rather foolish decision, considering what he was about to say next. "And Blues isn't here any more. He gave up too, and ran away. Just like always."

A slap would have been the gender-approved method. It would have made the point. But it just wasn't Roll's style. And so, the unlucky Rock's face was hit by a full right hook with her entire body behind it, smashing him over the back of his chair and off of the wall with enough force to dent the wall. Bouncing off, he lay on the floor as Roll stood over him.

"Don't ever say that again." She whispered, all heat gone from her voice. "Blues doesn't deserve that. He's his own robot, with his own life, and he doesn't have to sit around all day babysitting you just because you're younger than him."

"You're right, I shouldn't... I'm sorry." Rock raised a hand in submission as he stood back up. "I'm sorry. Please don't tell him I said that. Or anybody else, for that matter. Especially Kalinka. She'd probably order their Robot Masters to mob me." He rubbed his face, and a tiny smile came up. "Nice shot, though. Now I wonder if dad accidentally installed a few systems from a Guts Man in you."

"Ha!" Roll grinned as well, though much more broadly. "So _that's_ how to get you to smile these days. A punch-out. I'll have to remember that. Maybe even tell the others."

"Not dad." Rock raised his hands in mock panic. "He'd probably hurt his fist. Maybe even break it."

"Fair enough. I'll keep Auto on a maybe, depending on your future behavior." Roll decided. "Blues, however, is hearing about this as soon as he drops by next. In exchange for what he _won't_ be hearing about."

"I suppose that's fair enough." Rock admitted. "All right then."

"Done." Roll grabbed his shoulder. "And now, we should be getting down to the Robot Museum to check on dad, don't you think?"

"All right, all right, I know when I'm beaten." Rock groaned. "I suppose sanity is a rare commodity in this family, and we have a duty to spread it when needed. Let's go. But we're not taking the truck."

"Agreed." Roll frog-marched him towards the door before he could change his mind. "It's a nice day. We can walk for a while, then take the bus." As they were about to walk out, she paused for a moment. "Rock... you can't stay like this forever. When will you accept that there won't be any more Rebellions? When will you give _that_ up?"

"When they finally decide to execute Wily, or when his age carries him off." Rock replied, a flash of anger glittering in his eyes. "When he's dead, and buried, and the corpse has been examined at least five times to prove it's the real thing. Not before." And then that glitter was gone, replaced by coldness once more.

----------------------------

Those who were ignorant on the matter claimed robots never slept. While that was technically true for the most literal definition of sleep, they still required regular periods of shutting off most systems in order to recharge their energy. They called it stasis, and most did it in capsules for the look of the thing, but the Light family had eventually bought beds for themselves to more properly mimic humans. Bass, of course, sneered at such softness. When he went into stasis, he simply stretched out on the floor of the Fortress, Treble by his side as always. That was how they were occupied when the moment they had been waiting for finally came. The first signs of it were nearly indetectable; the single control computer that was running on the concealed power supply counted down the last seconds of its timer to the trigger point. Six months exactly from Dr. Wily's last departure from this place to another Skull Fortress, one which he had used in his last Rebellion. As soon as the final second clicked off, the command was sent to the auxiliary power source which ran the computer, and its other functions were activated. Lights, a few of them only, flickered on and illuminated the Fortress' halls; fortunately for Bass, one of those was right over his head, and the brightness in his face roused him.

"What in the Sam Adams..." He muttered for a moment as he blinked. "Why am I outside? Wait, that ain't the sun..." Realization came in a jolt that blasted him onto his feet. "It's time! Yes! Come on, Treble, move your tail!"

"Grr..." A half-hearted growl was all that Treble could muster, despite his anger at such a rude awakening; Bass was his master, and that was that. Rising, the ferocious robotic wolf squinted up at the light as well, but deigned from commenting further. A good three feet tall, white and purple armor uncovered with fur save for a wild ruff covering his neck and shoulders, Treble was a robot meant for destruction, just like his master, and was just as eager to finally be free of his six-month imprisonment. Sniffing the air, he shot a questioning glance to Bass, who shook his head.

"Not just yet, Treble. We can't go out by ourselves. If this fortress is starting up, it means _they'll_ be waking up any moment now." A fierce grin stole across Bass' face. "Let's go down and say hello, then, shall we?"

Skull Fortress VII was, like all the others, a metallic maze. But Bass and Treble knew every inch of it. And so, they stomped purposefully through the halls on a beeline for the room that held four stasis capsules, also on the six-month timer. One by one, the windows in the front were lit up by glowing eyes. And one by one, the lids slowly came off, moving to the side and out of the way, revealing their contents. Four Robot Masters, awakened from their slumber. A few more moments of silence followed, until one of them stepped out, body already emitting a cold mist as his armored boot crashed onto the ground.

"Ah, it's good to be awake and out of that box." The first declared with a theatrical stretch of his arms. White and pale blue, with chunks of crystalline "ice" decorating his armor, he was lean and lanky, with a sardonically smiling jaw. "About time, too." He looked back at the three other boxes. "Come on, you sluggards, wake up. You've been in there long enough too."

"Yeah, all right." The second walked forward as well. "We're coming. Excuse us for not all having full system functionality in five seconds." Stockier, his colors purple and orange, this robot's lower face was covered by a grille and his eyes set back in an alcove. The only decoration on his sturdy form was a ring of raised blocks around the top of his head, like a castle tower. "Looks like we're alone here for the moment."

"Six months must have passed without the master checking in, if we are awakened like this." The third rose, dwarfing the other two. "Otherwise, he would be here waiting for us." Dwarfing the other two, the massive Robot Master was as tall as a human and proportioned like a bodybuilder, a structure that made him intimidating despite the patchwork, welded-together look his gray armor bore. Rubbing the neck bolts alongside his square-jawed, flat-topped head, he looked around a moment more before continuing. "The lack of full Fortress power confirms this."

"Oh, my... I was hoping it wouldn't be like that." The fourth was the last to rise, as he could not simply step out; with no legs, he was instead born by an anti-gravity pod installed below his thick waist. Nearly round, he was bright orange with green, with no mouth at all-his voice came from a speaker. He looked silly compared to the others, especially with the point to his head that resembled the tops of towers in eastern Eurasia, but he was a deadly war machine all the same. "That means he was likely captured by his enemies, and is currently incarcerated."

"Yeah, that's gotta be the case. No helping it." The first shrugged. "We should be able to find out where he's being held fairly easily. And then..."

"We go there, and blow the roof off." The second growled with pleasure.

"We retrieve the master, and return him here." The third said, flat and dull.

"We can kill all the humans we see, too! I'm sure he won't mind that!" The fourth suggested, brightly fluttering around.

"And we show the world that the biggest, baddest Rebellion of all is here!" The first raised his fist. "Let's make this one a day for the history books, boys!"

"Well, well. Looks like we've got a nice range of personalities here." A fifth voice rang through the chamber, and the four newly awakened Robot Masters turned to see Bass leaning casually against the door frame, regarding them with narrowed eyes. At his feet, Treble faced them as well, wary but silent. "Or personality simulations, as the case may be... but regardless! Good to see you guys finally wake up. Be glad you got to sleep through the whole six months; believe me, it's been hell waiting here. I can only imagine what it's been like for dad over in the pen." He shook his head.

"Who the hell are..." The second began to yell, then stopped. "Oh, right... the master told us about you. The one he got working at the last moment."

"The name's _Bass_, scum." Bass snapped, instantly blazing with fury. "And if you talk to me like that again, I'll rip that grille off your face and make you eat it. I'm in charge here until we get dad back, which means you snoring shits are _respectful,_ got it?"

"Uh... yeah. Yeah, we got it." The first shot warning glances to the other three as he nodded frantically. "Guys? I think Bass here can kick our asses. Especially with his buddy there. So let's listen to him, huh?"

"Smart robot." Bass nodded approvingly. "Well, then. His name's Treble by the way. And now that that's all sorted out, lemme hear _your_ names. Assuming you've got 'em."

"Of course." The third saluted. "DWN009, Junk Man."

"DWN010, Burst Man." The second reluctantly bowed at the waist.

"DWN011, Cloud Man." The fourth removed the tower-top point from his head like a hat.

"And myself, DWN012... Freeze Man." The first dropped to one knee. "We await your command, Bass."

"Huh... yeah, dad only made eight Robot Masters of his own before you guys..." Bass remembered. "So I guess that makes me DWN013. Unlucky number. At least it will be for dad's estranged 'relatives', as they like to consider themselves." Bass chuckled. "All right. I'm guessing you were planning on just charging off to prison like that, right?" He snapped his fingers, than wagged one. "Nope. Not what we're gonna do. Not that simple, anyways. Oh, I'm sure you four could handle it, but it doesn't have enough style, enough show. We gotta make this big, like Freeze Man said. Which is why it's a good thing you guys aren't the only ones waking up right about now."

"Minion robots?" Junk Man realized.

"Bingo." Bass made a gun-shape with his fingers and fired off an imaginary round at him. "Right on target, big guy. A good-sized starter army; couple hundred or so. Of course, the main batch are still being held for the actual Rebellion, but these'll do to start. You guys go ahead and hit the jail, but before you do, set all those guys off around the district and tell 'em to raise hell. Smash everything in sight, and then burn the bits, sort of thing. Not like when capturing a territory; tell 'em to go for absolute wreckage." He looked back at Junk Man. "You look like you've got the most muscle, so to speak. Haul dad's flying saucer along with you when you go; I'll show you where it's stashed. That way he can make his exit in high style too. He'll like that. Oh, and bring a change of clothes too; kinda kills the effect if he'll still be wearing his monkey suit when he does that."

"Uh..." Cloud Man raised a hand hesitantly. "This might just be me, but... you talk like you won't be with us while we're doing it."

"That's right." Bass smiled. This was the part of the plan that he was proudest of, that which he had put the most thought into. "I won't. As I said, you guys are good enough to manage getting dad loose; I won't be needed there. Freeze Man, you take the command in there until you reach him; the rest of you, do what he says. As for me and Treble, we'll be out in the madness, looking for a few people I've wanted to meet quite badly for some time now."

"Mega Man." Freeze Man rubbed his chin. "You gonna throw down with him right off the bat, huh, boss?"

"Kinda." Bass chuckled. "And kinda not. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. You lot, just stick with your job, but don't mention me, huh? And on that matter, the rest of those robots should be up now. Good thing they don't have personality sims, or they'd be getting antsy too, and there's a lot more of them than there are of you. Let's go down there and say hi to them, then shall we?" Turning, he walked off into the hall, with Treble at his heels. In a straight line, the other four Robot Masters followed suit as well. Bass continued smiling at the sound of their boots on the metal, mixed with the hum of Cloud Man's flight and the more quiet, frequent clip of Treble.

To his ears, it sounded like the drums of war.

----------------------------

The Mr. X Robot Museum had been built during the Fifth Robot Rebellion in order to promote positive feelings from humanity towards their mechanical brethren, at a time that they were sorely needed. Years after the Rebellion's end, it was still a popular attraction for both natives and tourists, and would likely remain so for many years following despite Mr. X's death; similar museums were soon to be erected in other locations around the world by Dr. Trent Corbun, who had been the inheritor of most of Mr. X's estate along with his responsibilities. The Light family were all frequent visitors, and the Doctor's request to locate projects that were simply too large to fit in his house at the Museum was easily approved.

"Hi, Gary." Roll greeted the worker at the front door. "Dad and Auto still here?"

"Oh, hi, kid!" The elderly man grinned, recognizing them instantly. "Whoo, now we just need Blues and your whole family'll have dropped by today. Auto's still here, yeah... around back. The doctor took off a hour or so back, though. Said he was heading into the city for somethin'."

"Thanks, Gary." Rock nodded, then started around back with Roll following. "Crud. If dad's left, that means they've probably already finished building this... whatever they're building. Laboratory probably isn't a strong enough word. We're too late."

"We can always blow it up if we have to." Roll muttered darkly as they reached the bay door leading to the backroom reserved for the Lights. Inside, Auto was relaxing on a stool, the workbench near him covered with scattered tools and parts, which he was apparently making a half-hearted effort to clean up. Eddie was similarly engaged, sitting on the edge of the bench with his legs dangling over it. The feared "workshop with legs" was nowhere in sight, although with Auto that didn't mean very much.

"Hey, Ed." Rock greeted the little robot first before turning to Auto. "All right, bro. I can only assume you and dad completed that monstrosity you call your lab?"

"You're calling it a monstrosity, and you haven't even seen it yet." Auto remarked casually without turning away from the bench. "Way to go, Rock. Normally, you at least give me the benefit of the doubt until you have actual evidence. You guys just don't understand my genius, is all. It's not my fault. That's what Picasso said. Then he died."

"Stop. Just stop right there." Roll put a hand to her forehead. "Look. Buildings aren't supposed to have legs, Auto. They just shouldn't. Some things are only reasonable."

"And _that_ is what they said about the earth being flat." Auto spun around and pointed a hefty finger at them. "It's fear of the unknown that holds back the technological progression of the human race, every time! This fear must be conquered each and every time if anything substantial is to come of it! And you two aren't even actually human, so you've got no excuse at all!"

"There are advantages to that." Rock conceded. "For example,_you_ not being human either. You'd be a caffeine fiend, I just know it."

"All right, all right." Roll said, closing her eyes. "You're a genius, or whatever. Now haul that thing out so we can look at it."

"About time you admitted that!" Auto jumped off the stool. "Well, since you're being so obliging today, I might as well do the same. Behold!" From outside, a tremendous crash was heard, and the Light twins whirled around to find themselves confronted by the pinnacle of Auto's work. A thirty-foot-tall, massively looming robot, two pillar-like legs supporting a square body that was, indeed, large enough to fit an entire room inside. A face on the bottom front of the body lent an unmistakable resemblance to it, one that was confirmed when the roof popped up and back. "I present to you, Auto Enterprises' first location, _Big Eddie's!_ The world's first self-mobilizing robotics supplier! If this isn't genius, then call me crazy!"

"Duly noted." Roll whimpered; she and Rock were both completely occupied by staring blankly at the mind-numbing contraption. A dozen withering retorts began to form, but died in her brain as she continued to take in the sight before her.

"In all of my eleven years of life, I have never seen anything quite like this." Rock slowly shook his head in wonderment, his cultivated emotionlessness shattered by the dumbfounded shock filling him. "I'll give you that much, Auto. Way to go."

"Told you." Auto gave them a thumbs-up. "Ain't it great? Figured since Eddie's my assistant, this was only right and proper."

"Only you would describe something like this as right and proper, Auto. Only you." Roll finally wrenched her gaze away with a shudder, then glared at her younger brother. "Was this on the roof before you called it down to show us? You're lucky none of the Robot Museum's patrons noticed and complained about it."

"Place's built better than that." Auto scoffed. "And this thing's a lot lighter than it looks. Has to be, for those legs to be able to lift it. Keep in mind it's mostly hollow; I haven't actually moved any of my stuff inside yet, but when I do... ooh, baby!"

"Oh, you're finally going to clean the garage." Roll cracked. "I'll bet dad's thrilled. Speaking of which, did he tell you where he was going?"

"Ah..." Auto's face suddenly dropped, and he looked around nervously. "Well, uh... kinda?"

"I'm not going to like this, am I." Rock turned around as well, pinning his brother with his gaze. "Talk, Auto. Where did he go? I'm suddenly doubting it's a coincidence he left from here instead from the house."

"Yeah, okay." Auto slumped his shoulders. "He didn't want you two finding out until after he left because he thought you'd react badly. He's going to Kotobuki Penitentiary. He's going to visit Dr. Wily."

"Damn the man!" Roll raged, grabbing an unoffensive wrench and crushing it to a ball of slag with one hand. "The world's greatest robotocist, and he pulls a stunt like this? When is he going to learn?"

"If he learned, he wouldn't be dad." Rock sighed. "I should have known. He never really got over Wily."

"From the way he was talking, I think that's why he went." Auto prompted. "He said that he had to 'say goodbye to Al', and that he wouldn't be visiting again. Humans get emotional about this kind of thing sometimes."

"Yeah." Rock shook his head. "All the same, if it's been an hour since he went..." Reaching over to a wall, he called information and connected to the Prison.

"Kotobuki Maximum Security Penitentiary. Officer Johnstone speaking." The voice on the other end greeted him wearily.

"Hello, officer. This is Rock Light. I understand my father was coming by to visit Dr. Wily; I was wondering if he's left yet." Rock said, clear and crisp.

"Ah... yes, he left ten minutes ago." Johnstone replied, sounding a bit more friendly now that he knew it wasn't just another prank call or hysteric. "We gave them five. They seemed fairly calm at first; there was a bit of an argument, but nothing that needed intervention. Wily's back in his cell now."

"Thank you, officer." Rock smiled, making an "OK" sign with his hand to Roll, who smiled as well.

"Just a moment, Rock..." Johnstone continued, now sounding amused. "One of my buddies down at the station on Mercy Street told me there was an interesting report coming in a few minutes ago... would you happen to know why a giant robotic moth has been parked on the roof of your house for about an hour now?"

"A moth?" Rock blinked, then smiled. "That means my brother Blues is home, Officer. That thing's his, though he normally doesn't park it in public."

"I can see why." Johnstone replied dryly. "All right then. Thanks, Rock. Might want to advise him to relocate that before some of my fellow officers drop by to discuss it with him."

"Thanks for your time, officer." Rock hung up.

"Blues is back?" Auto repeated. "All right!"

"Yeah, he's parked the Melee Moth on the roof." Rock winced. "This family, I swear..."

"Shame dad took the car." Roll remembered. "And the truck's back at home still. Oh well, we can teleport."

"Man, that always give me a headache..." Auto rolled his eyes, but turned back to "Big Eddie's" and directed it inside the building. Once that was done, the three Lights and Eddie all vanished into streams of colored light that flew into the sky.

Designed by Dr. Light, matter teleporters were of high value to the field of robotics. Constructed separately from a robot or Robot Master's systems and installed later, the devices would scan their bodies and break them apart into a contained energy field, which could then travel freely through the atmosphere to reach the preprogrammed destination in a matter of minutes. Of course, warp travel wasn't perfect, the most obvious flaw being that use in humans caused serious brain damage. But even so, for robots it was a handy tool, and especially useful in times of Rebellion.

Thus, it was only a few minutes later that the four beams of light arrived outside the Light residence, and reformed into the robots. Walking inside, they found Blues seated on the couch, grimly staring at the television.

"There you are. I was about to check the Robot Museum." Blues said curtly before any of them could say anything. "Sorry to be so blunt, but I'm afraid we don't have time for pleasantries. It figures as soon as I decide to come back, my chance for a nice, pleasant family reunion was shot."

"Holy great spaghetti monster." Auto choked out as he, like the others, realized Blues' meaning. Heads turning in unison, the younger Light children followed their brother's gaze to the television where, in the streets of Kotobuki, robots were teleporting in by the truckload in order to wreak havoc and destruction.

"Yeah, pretty much." Blues nodded grimly. "I was just watching some old cartoons and waiting for you guys to come home when this broke in. It's been about five minutes now. Maybe I should have just gone to Kotobuki instead as soon as I saw this, but that would probably have been suicide."

"Oh, no..." Roll closed her eyes. "We were so close... no... no..."

"Yes." Mega Man told her calmly as he watched the television. There was nothing more to say than that.


	4. Chapter 3: Back In Blue

_**Chapter 3: Back In Blue**_

Kotobuki Maximum Security Penitentiary was not a pleasant-looking building. Grim and functional, it existed for one purpose only; to hold those prisoners who Japan considered retention of to be the absolute highest priority. Mostly murderers, some singular and some serial, with a sprinkling of other crimes mixed in as well. These damned souls went through their bleak, strictly ordered lives with the blank-eyed stares of knowledge that this was all there was, that there was no hope of release, that it would continue for every day of their lives until the oldest painkiller known to mankind finally claimed them in its skeletal arms. But even for them, there was always the knowledge of something worse. The solitary confinement cells, where those who misbehaved or who could not be kept with the other prisoners were consigned to solitude. Most of them went mad, eventually.

But Dr. Wily had been mad for more than a decade already.

That was what everybody had told him, anyways. Dr. Wily mused on this now, as he lay on his cot and examined the blank white ceiling, idly trying to squint enough to see the line of metal plates. Of an equal age as Dr. Light, he was physically an opposite, lean and lanky with limbs that always seemed to be twisting and turning at odd angles. His hair had receded enough to bare the front and top of his dome a decade ago, then abruptly halted, leaving the back and sides covered with a wild, bushy growth the same gray as his mustache. Was he mad, Wily wondered, as he sprawled in his bright orange prison uniform, magnetic clamps on both wrists and legs. Enough people had certainly told him so. Most of them his enemies. Mega Man, of course; but then, he would claim anybody who opposed him as mad, the self-righteous hypocrite that he was. They had to be mad, otherwise they would not _force_ him to fight them, after all. Equally so for his lackeying brother. A shame; Wily had once believed Blues to have potential, and yet he had thrown it away to crawl at Mega Man's heels. The girl, of course, was useless. Always had been. Thomas, though... hearing the words from him, the flat abandonment of belief and hope... that had still stung just a bit, even after everything that had separated them. Not that Wily had let it show, of course. But Tom believed, Tom hoped... it was what he did. And now he had no more of that left for the man who had once been his closest friend. Dr. Light had abandoned Dr. Wily entirely for the robots now. And with that loss, so too was the last piece of the man Wily had been earlier in his life now gone.

"I should be glad for that." Wily reminded himself with a sneer. "I owe you another favor, dear friend Tom. Thank you for helping me finish myself off." Was he mad? Pah! What did it matter, whether he was or not? The world would decry him as such anyways, as it always had, and it always would. Were he to truly recant, as he had pretended to do in the Third, and devote the remainder of his life to projects of love and peace, the world would still spit on him. And all he had wanted to do was help. He had done it to save the world, he truly had... but from what? Knotting his brow, Wily struggled to remember. There had been something, he knew. Some threat, that required drastic action... that only he could stop, and so he would have to, at any price. But try as he might, Wily could not remember what it was. Relaxing, he smirked again. It mattered not. The world declared him mad, and as for Wily himself, he did not care. If he was mad, or not, it made no difference to him.

Once, his ends had justified his means. Now, his means justified his ends. What happened afterward was unimportant; it was worth it, anything was worth it, just to continue his way of life. Continue his Robot Rebellions, his war with the family of Light. The Rebellions, and his eternal struggle to bring Mega Man's death and curse his life, were the sole focus of Dr. Wily's existence now. That was what had allowed him to wait out his six months in solitary casually, to go through day by day lying quietly on the cot, whistling and thinking over what would happen once it was through, and he returned to the world. It had been so, so tempting to tell Light of what would soon occur, what was likely on its way even as they spoke. But that would have spoiled the surprise. And so, Wily had contented himself with a single line, delivered in parting to raise questions in the other man's troubled mind. "_Only time can judge me, Tom. Only time. And time is about to grant me an early parole."_

Weaker men would have gone insane in solitary, unable to keep track of time and the passing of days once they discovered they could not mar or scratch the titanium walls of their cell to help them remember. But not Dr. Wily. Without aid, he had counted down each and every one of the days since he had been captured, every time the lights dimmed and then brightened again. Today was the day, Wily knew it was. And so, once returned to his cell, he laid back and thought and smiled, as the dim sounds of explosions and chaos slowly became audible. And the screams... gods, how he had missed the screams. Louder and louder, closer and closer they came. Until finally, a voice was heard through the door.

"Stand back, please, Dr. Wily."

"I've been at the back of the cell ever since I came back here." Wily replied. "Just open it already, you wind-up tin soldiers."

"As you command, sirrah!" The voice replied, and the titanium of the door frosted over, filled with sub-zero temperatures. A moment later, a series of explosions shattered it, layer by layer, into bits of shrapnel. When the way was clear, Wily jumped back to his feet and sauntered out, undeterred by the irons still clasping his arms and legs.

"Dr. Wily! Salute!" Freeze Man instantly ordered, and all four Robot Masters followed suit, arrayed in two lines on either side of his door.

"Well, somebody's taught you how to properly regard your superior. Well done, boys." Dr. Wily approved, looking over the creations he had set aside for the contingency of his capture. "None of you are damaged, I trust?"

"From this, sir?" Burst Man snorted. "Your skill is greater than that in constructing us."

"Good, good." Dr. Wily mused, looking them over. "Not you, not you, not you... ah, Junk Man. You get these things off me." He held up his arm irons, then indicated his legs as well.

"Yes, sir." Junk Man promptly took the binding magnetic clamps in his hands and, in a display of pure brute strength, wrenched them apart. Following suit with those on Wily's ankles, he then wadded both sets into a ball of crumpled metal and tossed it down the hall. "Doctor Wily, we brought your saucer as well."

"Did you?" Wily's eyes lit up gleefully. "Where is it, where is it, take me to it, take me to it!" Giggling wildly, the old man scampered down the hall alongside his creations in his bright orange jumpsuit, out of the solitary wing. At the exit was the saucer, bright yellow on its lower disc and blue on its upper. Wily's favorite vehicle, by now it was as much a part of his image as the devilishly twitching mustache, or the tie and lab coat over the simple shirt and slacks that were his wardrobe. Thinking of those, Wily spoke again. "On that note, did you happen to bring a change of clothes for me as well?"

"On what..." Cloud Man began, then broke off and shrugged. "Well, yes. Inside the saucer. Your favorite."

"Good, good." Wily climbed inside through the roof hatch; indeed, the clothes were all there inside the lower cockpit. In a moment, he would close the hatch and change; first, though, there was one last order of business. Popping back out of the hatch, he regarded the Robot Masters who were once more saluting him. "I assume that upon arrival, you fellows made a beeline for my cell, simply destroying everything and everyone in the way?"

"Such were your orders, sir." Freeze Man confirmed.

"All right. Consider those orders completed. Now, I have new ones." Dr. Wily grinned as he surveyed the building that had been his home for six months. They had held the greatest genius in the world captive to their will, to their idiot, bovine fear. And for that, they would pay. "Kill everybody. Kill the warden. Kill the guards. Kill the technicians. Kill them _all._ Let not a single human being escape your wrath! Ice them, blast them, zap them, compact them! When you finish, return to base, and we'll decide where you go from there, hm?"

"Yessir!" The four Robot Masters chimed before turning and racing off. Humming a little ditty to himself, Dr. Wily lowered the hatch and moved the saucer out of the facility with one hand while he struggled out of his jumpsuit with another. He had something to do himself, before he was gone and away. Somebody to see.

"Thank you very much, Mister Roboto... until we meet again... hee hee ha ha ha ha..."

----------------------------

The district of Kotobuki was, in only a few minutes, transformed into an absolute warzone. Killer robots, some the size of tanks, ran rampant through the streets, while frenzied humans blasted down the highways in any cars they could reach, desperate to escape. And yet, no matter how panicked their mindset, each and every one of the escapees turned their heads as they passed the only vehicle that was heading _towards_ the insanity. A vehicle that was driving even faster and crazier than they were. It had been a green pickup truck, once, and to some degree it still was; however, the word "truck" alone could not do it justice, since Auto had "improved" it. Now, the front of the truck bore a king-sized replica of its current driver's own face. The same driver who was pushing it to its current breakneck velocity while muttering under his breath about the failure of the experimental hover system at such a critical moment.

"Concentrate on driving, Auto." Mega Man reminded him from the truck's bed, where he and Roll were standing, keeping themselves stable with their hands on the railing. Obviously ready for action, he had donned his blue armor once more; a form-fitting titanium mesh body suit of light blue, with heavier segments colored darker over his hands, feet and groin. Only the helmet remained; for various reasons, he was delaying putting that on for as long as possible.

"Remind me again why you aren't teleporting." Roll responded to the comment with one of her own. Unlike her brother, she appeared at first glance to be unchanged from her normal mode. A second glance, though, would pick up the combination of fear and anger that caused her to shift around uncomfortably, unable to remain still for more than a few seconds at a time.

"Even if I teleported, I'd be unable to stop Wily's escape." Mega Man explained calmly. His gloom was gone now, replaced with a tired resolve; this was nothing new to him. Not any more. "That'll be their first priority, and he'd be gone by the time I arrived. With that in mind, _my_ first priority is evacuating this place to keep the casualties down. This truck will help a great deal with that. If I teleported ahead, I'd have a lot of trouble finding it once you were here. Besides..." He winced as an unlucky mailbox was flattened. "The way Auto drives, it's almost as fast as if I had teleported anyways."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Auto chuckled, adding a trash can to his hit list as well. "Ehh, your mother was a dishwasher! Well, at least we don't have any trouble finding the way to go." He glared at the massive cloud of smoke covering Kotobuki; the fires were evidently well underway. Searchlights penetrating the smog identified the location of the prison, where the heart of the madness was undoubtedly converging.

"That's not a good thing." Mega Man shook his head. "I'm probably going to regret this, but can you make it go any faster? This attack needs to be contained, now."

"Well, if you say so, I'll punch it up another notch!" Auto shrugged, and impossibly, the truck became even more hellbent. "Hold on to, hell, anything!"

"I still can't believe this is happening again..." Roll closed her eyes, both out of disbelief of the situation and to avoid having to see what they were doing. "Dr. Wily, loose again. Won't that madman _ever_ stop?" The desperation in her voice was something unlike her normal attitude, and Mega risked life and limb by freeing one hand to pat her on the shoulder.

"He won't be loose for long." The hero promised her. "Remember, we've been planning for this. Dad has those upgrades for me and Rush nearly completed. I'll bring him down again, just like before." Further discussion was cut off as Auto suddenly slammed on the brakes, causing the truck to slide wildly before slowing to a halt. Before them, the road had suddenly turned unstable, ripped up by the invading army.

"Whoops... hadn't counted on them targeting the freakin' highway itself." Auto complained. "Well, looks like this is as far as this baby goes."

"All right. You two stay here and look for refugees in the area." Mega Man instructed his siblings. "I'll go in."

"Hold it-message from Blues!" Auto relayed. Peering over into the driver's seat, Rock fixed his eyes on the tiny screen in the dashboard, where his elder brother's face was displayed. Blues had gone ahead on his Melee Moth to scout from the sky, along with the robotic bird Beat. "Any sign of dad, bro?"

"No joy." Proto Man shook his head, now covered with a round red helmet; doubtless the rest of his body wore the gray and red armor as well. "We'll keep looking, but watch out in particular for a steamroller robot with a spiked mohawk. One of 'em fried that news crew that was reporting this mess; mothman smashed it, but there's probably more around."

"Can do." Mega nodded. "Good luck, bro."

"Same to you." Proto saluted before cutting the connection.

"All right." Mega Man closed his eyes, focusing his mind. "Auto. My helmet, please."

"Right." Auto handed him the headgear, and without a moment of hesitation, Mega placed it over his hair.

"Hey..." A moment later, he realized that the feel was different, and opened his eyes again. Reflected in the truck's metal was a construction hardhat. "Very funny."

"I thought so." Roll was openly smirking, as was Auto, and after a moment Mega gave in and smiled as well.

"All right. Laugh it up, while you can."

"Knew you could smile if you wanted to!" Auto cheered, removing the hardhat and replacing it with the correct blue helmet. "Just remember, bro. No matter what happens, you always have the right to smile. Always."

"Thanks." Mega Man climbed down from the truck and made his way forward, into the madness once more.

"Personally, I kinda liked that look..." Auto commented to Roll as their brother departed.

Ignoring that, Mega Man climbed over the chunks of debris covering the road, praying that he wouldn't be too late to save his father. As it was, fate smiled on him in that regard; it was less than a minute before he sighted a familiar figure coming his way, guided by a robotic red dog. "There you are!" Landing in front of them, Mega smiled again, this time in relief. "Had us worried for a moment there, dad. Hold on. I'll go get Roll to help you over this stuff."

"Nonsense, there's no time for that!" Dr. Light shook his head. "I'm not too old to climb a bit. You need to focus on this attack. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what it's a cover for."

"Dr. Wily." Mega Man nodded grimly as he looked into the distance; now he could see the Prison, or what was left of it. As he stared, a familiar capsule shape soared through the skies, gradually growing in size as it approached them. "And speak of the devil, here he comes already."

"_Satan laughing spreads his wings!_" Howling madly, Dr. Wily pulled his flying saucer up short in front of the three of them, glaring down over a demented grin. Already free of his prison suit, he had returned to his familiar garb, even taking the time to do his tie properly. The Lights were unimpressed by this formality; Rush growled, Dr. Light scowled, and Rock simply turned a blank, expressionless gaze upon him before firing upon the saucer. Equally unimpressed, Wily maneuvered the machine out of the way and twitched his eyebrows mockingly. There were no more words; there was no need for them. The message was clear, as Mega Man and Doctor Wily locked eyes.

_I'll stop you. Again, and forever._

_I'm back. Again, and forever._

The doctor was the first to break the vision; clambering back down inside the machine, he soared away, his message delivered. Shaking his head, Mega turned to his father once more.

"Auto and Roll are parked directly behind me, past that rubble."

"All right." Dr. Light glanced behind himself. "There are still a lot of people back there, Rock."

"I know. And I know I can't save them all." Mega Man admitted. "But I'm going to save as many as I can. Let's go, Rush."

Barking angrily, the robotic dog fell into step with his master as the hero ran forward, leaving Dr. Light to watch them return to their lives of war, sadly shaking his head before continuing on his own way, back turned against the madness.

The first robots they met were nothing; hard-hat Metools whose armored helmets were worthless when raised to allow attack or mobility, and simple tank-tread humanoids that took far too long to register a target despite bearing mortar launchers on both arms. A charged plasma blast from Mega Man's buster disposed of them as easily as Rush's teeth, and before long a path of charred and shredded enemy casualties lined their way. Humans emerged as soon as they saw them, recognizing their hero instantly, and were waved towards the truck. Some, of course, it was too late for; averting his eyes from the corpses, Mega Man forced himself to focus on the task at hand. _They were killed before I could arrive. There was nothing I could do. First Law is not applicable._ Once, the sight of a dead human would have frozen him instantly; the First Law of Robotics held a stranglehold on even the most advanced Robot Master. But after so much he had been through, even its grasp had faded into the weariness and age of his mind. The other two laws were less than a joke. As were other things.

"This is too easy." Mega murmured, wasting yet another Metool. "This can't be all..." He paused as the road began to shake, the sign of something huge approaching. Three Metools frantically ran around a corner into his vision, but before he could hit them, something else beat him to it-a robotic steamroller, purple and punk. It was larger than the truck, and crowned with a giant humanoid head bearing a spiked mohawk fin. As its eyes centered on him, that fin was launched forward, becoming a deadly spinning buzzsaw that ground across the road towards him and Rush. "Oh, no you don't." Mega Man easily hurdled the blade as Rush ran out of the way, knowing that he would only be a hindrance against this massive an enemy. Mega, however, was more prepared to return fire, and did so with a vengeance, rattling off a machine-gun stream of plasma bullets aimed at the obvious weak point-the head.

Growling mechanically, the steamroller somehow directed its mohawk blade to return, soaring over Mega Man's head to lodge back in place. Rather than fire again, however, it chose to rush forward along the ground.

"Too slow." Mega quipped, retreating cautiously nonetheless; were he to be caught under that massive weight, his six Rebellions of experience would not save him from being smashed flatter than Pharaoh Man's attempts at humor. He continued his rate of fire as he went, and the enemy's head began to smoke, dislodging chips of paint as well.

Now enraged, the steamroller roared, releasing a flamethrower from its mouth. Even this measure failed, however, as Mega Man once again skipped aside.

"That must be how your buddy 'fried' the news crew." Mega Man realized as the buzzsaw released once more. "Well, it's not good enough for me, bud! Say goodnight!" Jumping the blade again, this time he released a massive charged plasma shot. The four-foot sphere of superheated gas slammed into the enemy's maw like a missile, and that did the trick; systems pushed past their compensation point, it began falling apart as small explosions wracked its frame before culminated in one full-body kaboom that consumed it utterly. Without a moment of pause, Mega Man continued forward.

"This is odd..." The blue hero muttered as he walked. Past the steamroller, he no longer encountered active enemies; instead, he was finding a trail of wreckage. "Somebody got these ones before we came here. Proto Man? But then why didn't he get the big guy?"

"You really want to know that bad?" A voice replied, loud and mocking.

Whipping around to the source of it, Mega Man stared up at a one-story building. Standing on the roof was a Robot Master he had never seen before. Armored in black and yellow, with a blue star in the center of his chest, the newcomer was built slightly heavier than he was. He was grinning cockily, red eyes flashing over a pair of purple lines running down his cheeks; the helmet above them bore an odd, double-finned shape.

"I was chasing him down, but then I saw you, and I decided to let you take him so I could see how good you were myself." He inclined his head at the remains of the steamroller.

"You don't say." Mega Man replied calmly. "Impressed?"

"Well, you didn't screw up. I'll give you that much. Still, I thought jumbo would be more of a challenge than _that_." The other Robot Master snorted. "That barely told me anything."

"Well, you can feel free to watch me clean up the rest." Mega informed him, but didn't turn away; his instincts were all telling him not to take his eyes off the strange robot, a decision that turned out to be a wise one.

"Yeah... yeah, I could." The other robot nodded sagely. "Or I could take a much more _direct_ route! Show me what you've got, hero!" His right hand shifted into a plasma buster, and he leaped from the building, the grin widening savagely as he opened fire.

"Damn it, it's never that easy..." Mega Man dropped and slid across the ground under the blast, then fired back as he stood. The stranger didn't flinch as he took the shots, simply hurdled the next blast and continued his own rate of fire. The buster was configured differently from his own, Mega Man noted immediately; its blasts had a much slower rate of fire, but were large, an elongated horizontal shape rather than the small circular bullets emitted from his own weapon. More powerful, too; one tagged his arm, and took off twice as much energy as a bullet from Proto Man's Buster would have, identical to his own. "You've got a nice gun there."

"Yours ain't too shabby either." The strange robot admitted, dodging about half of Mega Man's next flurry. "Good rate of fire."

"Thanks, I think." Mega replied dryly as he repeated it again. Despite his powerful Buster, the other robot's moves were clumsy and jerky; it seemed all he would do was jump, run a bit, and jump again. _This guy's a rank amateur._ "So what's your deal, anyways? If you were busting up the bad guys, why pick a fight with me?"

"I told you, so I could see how good you are!" The other robot replied casually. "Hero of six Rebellions, Mega Man, the famous Blue Bomber... now's as good a time as any to see how I stack up against you!"

"You haven't seen anything yet..." Mega muttered, cutting off his rapid-fire to charge his energy. The other robot didn't noticed, continuing his own pattern, and thus was caught completely off guard when the giant shot emerged. "Try this one, tough guy!"

"Whoa!" Hit full-on, the strange robot tumbled back on his rear end, wincing in pain. Dropping to one knee, he raised a hand. "Okay, okay, enough already! I give!" Instantly, a purple blur appeared before him and solidified into a wolflike robot that growled menacingly at Mega Man. "Stay, Treble. It's okay, I'm just singed."

"All right." Mega Man maintained a wary distance from Treble. "Now that that's over with, mind sharing a few more particulars? Like maybe your name, and where you're from?"

"I'm Bass. Yeah, go ahead and laugh, Bass and Treble." The Robot Master chuckled a bit himself. "As for where we come from and who built us, your guess is as good as mine. We woke up a few months ago in an old lab that was mostly abandoned; all we knew is that we were created to fight Dr. Wily. He was in jail, of course, but we read up on the Rebellions all the same, and when we saw this going down we jumped right in."

"So this was your first fight." Mega Man noted. "This explains a lot. You've got talent, but it's raw. Be careful not to get killed, and eventually you'll be good." He paused, then smiled a bit himself. "As long as you don't keep picking fights with me, that is."

"Yeah, no kidding." Bass rubbed a scotch mark wryly. "You're even better than I expected. Hope you don't mind if we keep at this all the same; you probably don't need our help, but..."

"One thing I've learned in this business is to take all the help I can get." Mega Man extended a hand, and Bass clasped it. "Nice to meet you, Bass. Hope you make it out of this alive."

"Me too, believe it or not." Bass joked again. "Well, looks like your brother managed to finish up here while we were busy saying hi. We'll be off, then; see you around, with any luck." Melting into a yellow beam of light, he teleported away. Treble growled one more time for good measure before following suit.

"Bass, huh..." Mega Man stared up as they soared away. "Well, he seems good-intentioned, even if he's a bit odd. He's right, though... it looks like there's no more robots around. Still, there'll be survivors to help." He sighed. "Come on, Rush. Let's go." Calling his dog back to his side, the hero continued walking onward, through the rubble and ruin that his life always returned to.

----------------------------

"Weh-heh-hell, this place is looking more lively than it used to!" Bass announced as he arrived back in Skull Fortress VII, Treble landing behind him a moment later. Menial robots were scurrying every which way through the halls, busily cleaning everything. "Guess dad doesn't favor the dust and decay look, eh, Treble? I kinda liked it, but hey, he's the one in charge now, not us. Bet he's in the command center. Let's go take a look, shall we?" Striding down the halls purposefully, Bass found himself whistling a little tune as he went. The encounter with Mega Man had gone even better than he could have expected. Although one couldn't tell that from the look on Dr. Wily's face. Sitting in a swivel chair at the center of the Fortress's command center, he spun around as Bass and Treble entered, scowling ferociously.

"There you are. It's about time you got back. You've got some explaining to do, robot."

"I do?" Bass blinked, genuinely confused. "Whatever it was, I'm sorry."

"Don't give me that." Wily snorted. "You know exactly what you did. Destroying those robots? _Our_ robots? Has your programming failed you?"

"Oh... _oh._" Bass' eyes widened in realization. "That. I _can_ explain, then, father... it's all part of my plan."

"Six months active, and you're already hatching plans of your own..." Wily mused, then smiled. "Well, I suppose if I didn't want you smart I wouldn't have built you that way. All right, robot... tell me your plan."

"I chose a name for myself, father." Bass said quietly. "Like you told me to. I'm Bass now. And he's Treble."

"Yes, yes, yes, very good, very good." Dr. Wily waved a hand impatiently. "Might as well have been Tuna as Treble, but if you like it, all right. The plan, now!"

"Yes, sir." Ignoring the fish joke, Bass began to walk around the room, hands crossed behind his back. Circular in shape, every inch of wall save for the door was covered in computer monitors presenting various data of the planned Rebellion. Their glow was the only illumination present in the room, causing Bass' form to shift from lit to shaded as he walked. "I've spent my time studying all the files on past Rebellions that you left here for me. I've analyzed all six previous Rebellions. If I did so correctly, then you place great value on repetition. Force Mega Man and his family into the same act, over and over again, to wear him down. Make it indistinguishable, an endless, ongoing onslaught. That's why there's always eight Robot Masters, you always operate from Skull Fortresses, etcetera, etcetera."

"Quite right, quite right." Dr. Wily murmured, getting drawn into the act despite himself. "So then, I assume you plan to break the mold?"

"Yes... and no." Bass stopped, made a 180-degree turn, and continued his pacing. "In past Rebellions, all of Mega Man's interactions with different supporting roles have been replicated at least one time. The eternal villain-yourself-the scapegoat, the supporting villain, the supporting brother... all except one." He raised a finger and rotated on his heel to face his father, stopping his walk. "Before Blues Light became Proto Man... he was Break Man. In the Third Robot Rebellion, he was an independent party who operated from the shadows. His goals were a mystery, but over time he became a friend of Mega Man."

"Oh... oh ho ho, I get it now." Wily's grin was terrible to behold, all his age-old mania and years of mental decay bared to the world. "You repeat that role for him. Be a mystery, but a mystery _friend_, helping him out and then vanishing into the air once more."

"While pretending to be less skilled than he is, so he doesn't worry about the possibility of me fighting him again." Bass nodded, pleased that his father seemed to like his plan. "You saw that scuffle, I assume. Be assured that I'm far better than _that_. I just wanted to see what he could do; there was no need to show my hand just yet."

"No, you'll play the game... let him grow to trust you, as the Rebellion goes on." Wily murmured. "And then, at the right moment, when he's most vulnerable, and least expecting... you do what?"

"Well..." Bass did his best to echo his father's grin. "I do believe there is a bit of tradition involved with the odd-numbered Rebellions of his house coming under attack."

"There is indeed, there is indeed." Wily stroked his chin thoughtfully. "As I recall, the last time I did that, I did such a number that they had to move somewhere else. Nice house they have now. Pleasant."

"It's be an awful shame if some jerk came along and blew all the walls out, wouldn't it?" Bass inquired in mock worry.

"Oh, Tom'll have insurance. Unless he's gone senile, that is. Wouldn't that be a shame." Dr. Wily leaned back in his chair. "Well done, Bass. This plan of yours should serve admirably to drive the nails into little Rock's wrists just a little deeper. You are a credit to me."

"I live to serve you, father." Bass bowed deeply.

"Smart boy." Wily said with an amused twitch of his mustache. "Now then, rise. I haven't been idle myself, either. I've already sent the other four off with their armies. They should be arriving and attacking as we speak."

"May I ask where they are bound?" Bass said, standing and reaching down to scratch Treble's ears. Content that his master and his creator were getting along, the robotic wolf sank down to the floor with a low woof.

"Well, of course you should. Otherwise, how will you be able to go there to keep playing with your cousin?" Dr. Wily pointed at one screen, and then another, as he explained what they displayed.

"Junk Man took his army on a field trip to Berlin's finest Metal Disposal Facility. Hardly a high-profile target, really, even if it handles most of Germany's slag, but it was the best I could do that would suit him. At least he'll have plenty to work with. Cloud Man's better-I found another Weather Observation Platform for him, just like the one Gyro Man hit back in the Fifth. The repetition you mentioned should cause Mega Man a headache, with any luck. This one was in Nepal."

"Might need to borrow a map to find that one." Bass joked.

"South Asia, you clank." Wily growled absently as he faced a third screen. "Freeze Man was sent off to an Environmental Monitoring Facility in the Yukon. Global warming did get a lot worse about thirty years back, as I recall... just like everything else. Fun times, fun times..." His eyes misted over in recollection. "Back when I was the world's hero, instead of the devil incarnate... ah, the newspaper headlines, the government awards... I think they even made a balloon of me for the Macy's Day Parade. Tom, too... we were inseparable back then..." The air of reminiscence vanished, replaced by a more common black scowl. "He always got more credit, more glory. Well, that's certainly changed now, hasn't it, Tom? _Now_ who's made more newspaper headlines? Heh heh heh..."

"Uh... what about Burst Man, dad?" Bass coughed politely.

"Eh? Oh, yes, the Rebellion." Wily shook his head before pointing at a fourth screen. "He's down at the Florida Aquarium. A noble place, helping all those endangered aquatic species. Far be it from me to ruin such a lofty project."

"So you told him to just kill the humans and leave the critters alone, is that it?" Bass guessed.

"Exactly! After all, it's hardly as if _they're_ endangered, eh?" Wily slapped his knee and laughed at his own joke. "Not that I haven't made my contribution to _that_ cause, hah! How about you? You bloodied your hands properly yet?"

"Not on humans, no." Bass shook his head. "Have to keep up the buddy-buddy mask with Mega Man. Ripping some shmuck's head off would kind of defeat that purpose."

"Fair enough, fair enough... well, you'll have time for that eventually." Wily reasoned. "Be on your way, then, now that our plans are all in order... you look like you could use some stasis."

"I could use a nap, yeah." Bass admitted, and Treble yawned in agreement, rising. "I'll get to that, then. And then the fun comes. I'll make you proud of me, dad... just wait and see. I promise it." He and his wolf turned and walked from the room, and Dr. Wily watched them go.

"Do what you were built for, robot." The aged madman whispered to himself as they left. "That's all you need to." Turning, he returned his attention to the monitors, and concentrated on the Rebellion once more, all thoughts of Bass forgotten.

In the end, he forgot all of them. For Mega Man, he was the only constant enemy. And he always would be. Earth could not be rid of his presence any more than it could the sea or the sky, now. He was an integral part of it, his legacy carved in blood. And nothing would ever wash it from the surface of the world.


	5. Chapter 4: Bubble Up!

_**Chapter 4: Bubble Up!**_

_"...Surprisingly low amount of casualties, thanks to the efforts of the Light family in containing the robot rampage."_ The newswoman on the television was staring straight down at her desk as she spoke, unable to even face the camera as she gave her report. "_Unfortunately, the following attacks led around the world by the four Robot Masters responsible for Wily's escape have proved just the opposite. Savagery even by the standards of previous Rebellions has left thousands dead in just a few hours. Every human within fifty miles of the targets is believed to be..."_

"The old man never was very good with subtlety." Proto Man shook his head disgustedly as he walked in through the front door, joining the rest of the family. Roll and Mega Man were sitting side-by-side on the couch, while Dr. Light slumped in the armchair with Rush at his feet. Auto and Eddie were both sitting on the stairs, glaring down at the television which they all fixated on. Observing their positions, the eldest son of Light chose a corner to lean into. "I've got more bad news, I'm afraid. Beat got jacked again."

"Not again." Roll winced. "Dammit, Wily just never knows when a grudge should be settled." The robotic bluebird had played an instrumental role in Wily's psychological defeat in the Fifth, leading to parts of his circuity being removed and used in a sick game by the madman in the Sixth. "Did he look intact when you last saw him?"

"Yeah, but that was before Wily's saucer grabbed him with a claw and reeled him in." Proto explained. "I'm not going to tell him, but I think Cossack might have made a mistake with that guy's programming, dad. He's always been a bit too hot-headed; never could tell when he was outclassed. It was too fast for me and Mothman to stop. I just hope Wily still wants to use him to mess with our heads, instead of just destroying him."

"Pretty likely. It's the way he thinks." Mega Man agreed somberly. "Wily can't change his own brain, and that part of it is practically obsessive-compulsive. We'll get him back, and then he can pay Wily back, just like last time. For now, let's concentrate on the business at hand. The rebellion. The Robot Masters."

"Oh yeah. All _four_ of them." Auto chimed in. "Even with my head damaged, I can still tell that number ain't right."

"You got head damage?" Proto Man's head shot up, frowning as he examined his newest brother. "That bolt on your head is gone."

"Ripped off and up by a punkass crowbot." Auto nodded glumly. "It was a rare kind, too. Had to order it special from Cuba to get one that fit right. Won't be easily replaced, and until it is, I'm not gonna be at full capability. Of all the places to get hit. Dammit."

"Rebellions screw us over. It happens. You get used to it." Mega Man summed it up rather coldly. "But you have a point. Four is not enough Robot Masters to go around. The only Rebellion that didn't have eight was the first, and that had six. There'll be more. Count on it. At least it gives me less to have to choose from."

"None of those locations are of instant importance this time." Dr. Light puffed heavily on his pipe, obviously stressed. "That's something, at least. You'll be able to make your choices based entirely on the enemy forces, rather than what needs to be freed up."

"Always a plus." Mega Man agreed, shutting off the television. "We all probably know what each of us will be doing for this Rebellion, but let's get all our roles spoken just to make sure. I'll be the main attack force, as always. Go on, fight through the armies, shut down the Robot Masters. Rush will back me up."

"I'll be operating from behind the scenes, also as always." Blues concurred. "It's what I do. I'll keep an eye our for the other four Robot Masters, as well as any other tricks, and look for the Skull Fortress while I'm at it. We know that's gotta be out there somewhere too."

"My role's just as set in stone, by now." Roll remarked blandly. "I stay here twiddling my thumbs until Rock comes back full of scars and blast marks, and then I patch him up so he can go collect some more. Will you be helping me there, dad?"

"I'd like to, and perhaps eventually I will." Dr. Light shook his head. "But I think my first priority is to finish my work on the upgrades for Rock and Rush."

"Definitely." Rock nodded. "Go ahead and concentrate on those, dad."

"I'll be operating in a similar line from Big Eddie's." Auto thought for a moment. "I should have my Bolt synthesizer up and running in a bit. They're common parts in most robots, and if you can pick up a few intact ones while you're out in the warzones I should be able to turn 'em into E-Tanks and W-Tanks and the like for you. Might even be able to synthesize some artificial Energen Crystals for Rush's forms. I've been tinkering with that."

"Just as good. More power to you, Auto." Mega gave his brother a solemn thumbs-up.

"Thanks. One thing, though. I'd like to keep Eddie around as my lab assistant." Auto glared down at the suitcase robot, who had beeped angrily upon hearing that. "Forget it, Eddie. You've got a reckless streak almost as bad as Beat's, and it's gotten you hurt badly before. If we let you go out now, you'd be even worse-you think I didn't noticed your reaction when you heard what happened to him? I know he's your buddy, but getting yourself killed won't help him. I want you to stay with me and keep your head level."

"Sorry, Ed, but he's got a point. You're overruled." Proto glanced around at the rest of the family, who all nodded. "You sit this front line out and work behind the scenes. Auto'll need you, anyways, with part of his brain missing and all."

"Yeah, I... _hey!_" Auto started to agree, then yelled as the penny dropped. "I'll give you half a brain missing, brother mine!"

"Not now, guys." Mega stood up. "There's one more thing I'd like you to look into, Blues... and if you've got the time, you as well, Roll. Any prominent robotocists around the country who have gone unaccounted for in the past year or so. In particular, look for any robots named Bass and Treble."

"Those two you were fighting out there?" Roll frowned. "I wondered what was going on with that. Blues said they were beating up Wilybots too."

"They were." The blue hero confirmed. "Bass only picked a fight with me to see how he stacked up. He's an overconfident rookie, but he seems to be on the level. Still, I'd be an idiot if I trusted on sight, after the last few Rebellions."

"I'll tell Cossack about him when I drop by, and he can help on that too." Proto Man promised.

"Good." Mega nodded. "Well, there's no point in beating around the bush. I only took a slight nick out there and I've already refilled my energy, so I might as well kick one of these guys off right now."

"We still don't know when they plan on stopping their killing sprees, so you might save some lives that way. Good call." Proto nodded approvingly. "So then, who's first?"

"They played security camera footage on the news before you came in, so we saw good examples of all their abilities." Roll explained, then shuddered. "In gruesome detail, admittedly. At least most of them looked like they went fast."

"It's a bit of a hard call." Mega admitted. "All four of those look like pretty tough customers, this go around... not too surprising, considering how Wily made them to bust him out if things went south. Of the four, though, Burst Man looks like the least of the bad lot."

"So you'll be off to Florida, then." Dr. Light remembered. "The state Aquarium. Do me a favor, will you? I know they're not of the same priority as human life, but please try to avoid harming the animals there. It looked like they were lucky enough to be ignored by the robots on the news footage, so if they can come out of this alive, I'd prefer it."

"Believe it or not, dad, I generally don't get my kicks by beating up dolphins for their lunch money." Mega Man rolled his eyes theatrically. "I won't shoot the fish. Give me more credit than _that._ If nobody else has any commentary to make?" He waited for several silent moments, then nodded. "Right then. See you when I get back." He disappeared into the ceiling in a streak of blue light, and after walking away from Dr. Light Rush followed suit.

"He seems to be handling this well." Auto noted. "I was afraid this would just drive him deeper into his whole gloom and doom bit, but instead he's acting... well... almost _normal._ What's up with that?"

"It's his 'Mega Man' mindset taking over. That always happens too." Roll explained. "Don't ask me to explain it, and definitely don't ask him-he hates talking about it. But if it helps him cope, I say good for him."

"I can't argue with that myself." Dr. Light stood up. "Right then, let's all get to work too, people. We might not have a psychopathic Robot Master to kill, but we've got enough to keep us busy all the shame. Get to it!"

----------------------------

Descending from the skies, a streak of blue light plunged towards the Florida Aquarium. To a watcher, it would have looked to all the world like the heavens were delivering a bolt of retribution to the murderers that now ruled the facility. But there was no explosion, no wrath of ages; the streak of light simply slid along a nearly transparent bubble of electric energy that now covered most of the Aquarium, and plunged through the roof at the end of the bubble's reach.

"Figures the EM shield'd be their first priority... oh well, nothing I'm not used to." Mega Man sighed as he formed into existence once more. Electromagnetic fields were one of several things impenetrable to the Lighttech teleport system, and by far the easiest to replicate; they were standard issue for Wily's Rebellions. Mega had ceased annoyance at them long ago; it was safest to proceed on foot into actual enemy turf, and they gave him a place to start. Even though he was free to teleport anywhere inside the bubble once he had walked through it, to do so would be highly hazardous. One never knew where Wily would stick a spike pit. But the EM barrier was not the only addidition made. Huge, decorative beakers of bubbling chemicals now lined the wall, and pressue-sensitive bombs were scattered across the entry hall in ways that made it impossible to proceed with touching them off.

"_Man,_ those remodel crews work fast..." Mega Man sighed, then set off. Experimentation with the bombs quickly showed that they were on three-second fuses once triggered, and that the blast radius was only four feet; Mega Man was easily able to avoid taking any injuries as he made his way through the maze of bombs, dispatching the occasional sentry robot as he went. At the end of the hall, more remodeling was apparent; the standard doorway had been completely caved in, and a hole in the floor led into one of the water tanks. Thanking his creator for the hundredth time for making him waterproof, Mega went in. _I'll just have to hope this isn't the shark exhibit._ Thankfully, it was not; bright, tropical fish dashed about in a worried frenzy as Mega Man disposed of their robotic counterparts and "Metool" hard-hat robots who comically wore snorkels and flippers for underwater post. It was, as always, a stupid move; just about everybody Mega knew had pointed out that such tactics only exposed a Metool's vulnerable underside even more. The path led deeper and deeper, and before long the roof of the tank was lined with spikes that promised death if he jumped too high, and yet Mega Man pressed on regardless into a dead-end that sealed itself behind him as soon as he entered. But he wasn't alone in the room. Not by a long shot.

"Grrr..." Rumbling mechanically, the gigantic crab robot at the opposite wall rose into its legs, and its eyes lit up. The size of Auto's truck, it was built like a tank, and the claws it bore looked nasty. Raising one, it opened fire without hesitation-one, two, three shots of pink energy.

"I hate it when they bring oversized flunkies." Mega Man noted to himself as he dodged around the shots and returned fire with a charge shot. "I really do."

Either sensing his dislike, or simply angered by the damage it was taking, the crab chose another method of attack. Rising a few feet up into the water on thruster jets, it paused for only a moment before rocketing forward in a full-body charge.

"Whoa! That'll wipe me out of it hits." Mega Man realized, dropping down into a mostly-horizontal position at the same time as his legs thrust him forward. "Good thing it won't, then." The Slide Technique, learned in the Third, had saved him many times before, and here it did again-the crab's underside neraly scraped the hero's helmet as they shot past each other. Slamming into the wall, the crab bounced off, turned and roared again only to receive another charge shot. "Come on! Is that all you've got?"

As it turned out, it was, and in about five minutes the war machine's systems finally gave out, collapsing apart into a pile of scrap metal. There was one last trick, however; as the light in its eyes died, the ceiling exploded as well, and turbofans in the floor activated, lifting Mega Man up on the currents of air. A quick glanced up showed several shelves of spikes, with only small holes to fit through. Deft maneuvering saved the day, though, and in the end Mega Man was able to climb out of the tank back onto dry land, resisting the urge to flop around with exhaustion and breathe heavily.

"Easy, Mega. You don't need to breathe." He reminded himself. "Wouldn't have been able to go underwater for that long at all if you did."

"That _is_ a fairly important thing to remember about being a robot!" A now-familiar voice agreed with a laugh. Looking ahead, Mega Man saw Bass pulling himself out of a similar tank. A moment later, Treble did so as well, shaking himself off. "Man oh man! Those crab-tank things sure pack a wallop, don't they?"

"You beat one of those too, huh?" Mega raised an eyebrow, surprised but impressed; Bass' armor had a few more scorch marks than his own, but was otherwise still intact. "Not bad at all, new guy."

"Thanks!" Bass grinned cheekily. "So then, I figure I should be able to take this Robot Master in charge here... Burst Man, right? He can't be much worse than the crab."

"Oh, no you don't." Now Mega Man folded his arms, shaking his head firmly. "Robot Masters are an entirely different story from robots, even tough ones like that. No way. You're not getting into a deathmatch with another Robot Master until you've actually seen one in real time. I'll handle Burst Man. You can watch."

"Yes, _father._" Bass rolled his eyes. "Lead the way, then... whoa!" For the first time, he actually looked down the hall. Mega did as well, and groaned. With whirring noises, steel blocks two feet on each side were popping into existence, hovering in the air in preset positions for a few seconds, then disappearing again. It was an endlessly repeating pattern, timed perfectly. It formed a bridge over a small spikepit. It was one of Wily's oldest, strangest devices. And it never failed to piss Mega Man off utterly.

"The disappearing blocks." Mega pulled a hand across his face. "You'll get to know and hate them in time, believe me. This time, though..." He walked up to the edge of the spikepit, looked it over, and nodded firmly. "This time, I think we can do without. Rush!" An electronic signal was transmitted, to where Rush waited at the edge of the EM bubble. Instead of accompanying Mega Man everywhere, risking himself unnecessarily, Rush simply waited for a signal and then teleported to what Mega Man told him was a safe location when called. Appearing before them, he glanced at Treble curiously as Mega Man jumped onto his back. As his feet brushed the robot dog's armor, a panel in the top popped up. The Rush Coil, a supercharged spring that launched Mega Man ten feet into the air, well enough to clear the spikepit with enough momentum. Turning, he smirked at the staring Bass. "Go ahead; he'll let you do it too."

"That's pretty nifty." Bass followed suit, and after a nervous moment Treble did as well. Barking happily, Rush departed once more, and the other three continued on their way, blasting and mauling enemy robots as they talked. "Treble's cool, but all he can do is shred things. Nothing like that. There looked to be some sort of plans for a fusion armor system in the lab where we woke up, but they were never implemented."

"Really?" Mega Man's eyes widened at that. "Huh! I used to have a couple of those with Rush; one for increased physical strength and one for flight. The modules wore out, though, and dad's been too busy to replace them."

"Maybe my creator based ours off yours, then." Bass suggested. "As far as I can tell, ours would combine both those functions. Here..." Popping open a compartment on his armor, he pulled out a circuit plate. "Go ahead and take this, and let your dad look at it. There're three more that go with it, but I don't have them on me. If he can get it to work, you and Rush are welcome to use it."

"Hey, thanks." Mega Man pocketed it. "If that happens, I'm sure he'd be happy to put it in you and Treble too."

"Maybe." Bass looked away uncomfortably, then stared ahead again. "Oh, wow... check this out." The hall ahead was filled with interspersed spikes on patches of both ceiling and floor, a water level that raised and lowered over the course of seconds, and water mines in bubbles. "This'll be real fun to plow through."

"Looks like the last gauntlet. They always load up the defenses right before their own rooms." Mega Man explained, going along with the change of subject without another word. "Yeah... see down at the end? There's a steel shutter with Dr. Wily's insignia carved over it. That's where the Robot Master always hides behind. Remember, let me handle him."

"I know, I know." Bass put up his hands. "Within reason, anyways. If you get in trouble, I'm stepping in whether you like it or not."

"Then I won't get in trouble." Mega decided. "Let's go."

----------------------------

"Well. This certainly looks like fun." Mega Man observed sardonically as he walked into Burst Man's lair. The floor and all four walls had been lined with bubbles; not simple soap, but some sort of chemical that bore his weight easily yet bounced him slightly with every step. The ceiling was even worse, covered with thick metal spikes crackling with electricity. A puncture from one of those would overload his systems. Instant, violent death. Bass and Treble followed shortly after. Once the shutter had closed, a hatch in the floor opened, and a bubble the size of a man floated up on a breeze. _Inside_ the bubble, a bulky Robot Master glared out at them. As soon as the hatch closed, he popped his ride and dropped to the ground.

"So you're Mega Man." He said by way of greeting, obviously unimpressed. "I thought you'd look tougher."

"And you're Burst Man. Looks don't matter as much as actions." Mega Man shrugged. "I've fought guys who could bench-press you with one hand and won, but I won't be taking you lightly, all the same."

"Appreciate the respect." Burst Man rolled his eyes, then glared at Bass silently. With Mega Man's back safely to him, Bass scowled back and drew an imaginary zipper across his lips. Snorting, Burst Man dismissed him. "Well then. We all know why we're all here today. So let's get down to it, shall we?"

"If you're that eager, sure." Mega Man raised his buster. "We can make it quick then. Hold still, I'll try to put it through your eye. Make it quick."

"You're a real laugh riot, old man, you know that?" Burst Man raised a device on his head that looked like a child's soap-bubble toy. There was nothing toylike about what it created, though; a wall of bubbles that floated slowly towards Mega. "Laugh this one off, then!"

"Huh." Experimentally, Bass fired a buster shot at the wall and frowned as it dissipated, only making a dent. "Plasma resistant crud. Tough."

"Not enough." Mega fired off the charged shot he had been storing since before entering the room. Burning straight through the bubble wall, the massive ball of plasma continued on to slam into Burst Man, knocking him soundly on his rear end. That wasn't all that dropped, unfortunately; as he took his spill, orange spheres the size of apples flew out from hatches all over his body. With the springy lining of the room, they bounced around like pinballs for several seconds before beginning to flash dangerously.

"Oh boy..." Realizing what they were, Mega Man's eyes widened as he dove for a clear spot. "Hit the deck!"

"What do you-OW!" Bass yelled as all the spheres simultaneously exploded. Treble yelped in pain as well, then snarled, an opinion Bass seconded. "Grenades? You stupid bubble boy, I'll-"

"You agreed to stay out of it!" Mega reminded him, firing bursts of plasma at his enemy. "Just work on dodging those things!"

"Ow..." Ignoring the tiny scorch marks being racked up on his armor bit by bit, Burst Man rose back to his feet and glared down at the much large one imprinted on his chest. "That popgun of yours pack a heck of a wallop. I'll give you that much, old man. Suppose I'd better pull out my real gun now too!" Leveling his right hand at Mega Man, the enemy Robot Master's arm buster covered it. Instead of plasma, it instead expelled a bubble the size of his head, which gently floated towards him, bearing a grenade as its cargo.

"Timer'll go off if I back up." Mega Man muttered to himself, stepping back to the wall and ignoring the bubble while he continued to fire on Burst Man, who was concentrating on producing more of the bubble grenades. By the time he realized that the grenade wasn't detonating, it was too late; brushing him, the bubble instantly expanded around him and encased his entire form. Trapped, Mega Man realized with horror that it was now rising towards the spiked ceiling.

"So long, sucker!" Burst Man crowed, straightening up to watch him. On the other side of the room, Bass was staring up in astonishment.

"Not quite." Mega Man muttered, aiming at the bubble's other content. _This'll hurt, but no choice-no time to punch through the bubble itself._ Firing on the grenade, he set it off, and fell out of the blast grunting in pain-only to land right on the second bubble bomb his enemy had created. "Oh, come on..." Painful freedom was again achieved and again required. After the third, Mega Man immediately began charging; this would hurt, he knew, as a metal hand closed around his ankle.

"Got you!" Whipping Mega Man over his head, Burst Man slammed him into the floor with enough force to pop several bubbles which were quickly replaced by generators in the panels. "Quick thinking doesn't work forever!"

"Neither does not thinking at all." Shoving his buster into Burst man's face point blank, Mega Man fired, and again his enemy went flying back on his rump, dropping grenades like change in River City. This time, Mega, Bass and Treble were all able to find safe spots.

"You lousy punk!" Burst Man got back up again and slammed his buster into the ground while creating another wall of bubbles from his head.

"This coming from you? Come on, man. You're more punk than I'll ever be. I'll bet you even think you're singing when you yell." Mega fired a third charged shot, then shifted in surprise as the floor beneath his feet rose. "Whoa, what the hell?" Popping out of the cracks between floor generators were floating bubbles, rising steadily upwards. Fortunately, there were only a few-it seemed pegging Burst Man had apparently stopped their flow. Jumping back down before he hit his doom, Mega immediately basted through the bubble wall. Of course, there were bubble bombs already coming his way on the other side, but he had been prepared for those as well. As their drifts hit low point, the blue hero hurdled them easily, coming to a stop straight in front of a shocked Burst Man with a charged shot.

"Say cheese." Again, the fall and the loose grenades, and again Burst Man rose. He was heavily damaged by now; exposed wiring was sparking in several spots on the torso. "That does it! Now you're in for it!" All weapons firing, he released the scatter bombs, bubble bombs, and bubble wall all at once.

"Look out, man!" Bass yelled, unnecessarily.

"All right, then." Mega Man simply whistled between his teeth. "Thought this was too easy." Thinking fast, he compared the rates of all three attacks in his head. Hurdling the first bubble bomb, he deliberately let himself be caught by the second, which carried him up over the scatter bomb explosion. Shooting the grenade, he winced but angled his fall to hit the side of the wall as he fell, bouncing him away from the third bubble bomb. He stopped right in front of Burst Man, who simply nodded resolutely.

"Do it."

"Done." Mega Man fired the charged shot, and Burst Man flew away for the last time. He did not drop bombs, nor did he rise; the only noise was the fading hum as the microfusion generator in his chest commenced its shutdown procedures, sensing that the robot no longer had enough internal operations energy to remain functional. Checking his own energy from a meter on his arm, Mega Man raised an eyebrow; it was down to exactly 50. "Well, I'll live. You guys okay?"

"We're fine." Bass assured him, and Treble barked in affirmation as well. "You're fine too, then?"

"My family'll patch me up over a nap, no sweat." Mega Man allowed himself to relax enough to grin lazily. "I've seen a lot worse; one time I came back covered in napalm and tank treads. Now _that_ was a bad day."

"Holy shit." Bass shook his head in awe. "What'd you pick a fight with, the US Army?"

"Something like that." Turning to Burst Man, Mega began peeling off the armor and digging through the body. "Well, you've seen your first deathmatch between two Robot Masters. Any questions?"

"Just one." Bass nodded. "Well, two now, but anyways. When he unloaded three of his attacks at once near the end there, why didn't he use the floor-pump attack too? That might have gotten you, if he had..."

"Because both that and the bubble bombs used his Buster." Mega Man explained. "He might have had a Buster on his other hand too, but even so, you can't use both at once. Overloads your weapons systems. You'd blow yourself up. So don't do it."

"Uh, yeah, I won't." Bass made a face. "Second question, then. What the hell are you doing?"

"Looking for this." Mega Man triumphantly pulled a microchip out of hie enemy's Buster. "It's the primary weapons chip. Little trick I've got called Weapons Copy. Check this out." Holding it in his hand, he stood, and his armor shifted colors, becoming orange and purple. Tossing the chip away, he formed his buster, and instead of plasma, fired a bubble bomb. "Hm, system says he called this the Danger Wrap. Weird name, cool weapon."

"Man, I wish I had awesome tricks like that." Bass clapped, and Treble woofed. "Well, things should be pretty cleaned up here, right?"

"Almost... just got to... ah, here we go." Looking around, Mega Man saw a computer console in the only spot on one wall that didn't have a bubble. "He used this to control the facility, so there should be quick shutdown commands for both the remaining robots in the area and the EM barrier. Ah, here we go." A couple clicks later, he stepped back. "And done. One down. I'm heading back home, now that that's done."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Bass agreed. "We'll be off too, then. See you around next time!" Three warp signatures flew off into the heavens, and the remains of Burst Man were alone in the room.

----------------------------

_"Well, shit." Burst Man muttered to himself as he watched them leave. "I'm dead, then." _

_"No shit, sherlock." Another voice agreed, and the Robot Master spun to see a figure in black, robed and hooded, walking in through a wall. _

_Tall and bulky for a Robot Master, with an enormous back and shoulders, the spectral figure had a head like a skull, grinning eternally as it twirled a tiny scythe between its fingers. Its eyes followed Bass' trail up. "Bass, huh. I wondered if he would. This should make things more interesting. Should be fun to see if he'll follow my example." _

_"Look, pal." Burst Man snarled, irritated at being ignored. "Just who the hell are you?" _

_"Me?" The reaper turned to him and bowed. "I'm here to pick you up, of course. Come on, Burst Man. Time for you to join the hordes of the fallen. I'll be back to bring more of you along soon, __and I don't mean your three buddies, but for now... right this way." _


	6. Chapter 5: Time Freeze

_**Chapter 5: Time Freeze**_

Some things never changed. Especially when it came to Rebellions. This was a truth that Mega Man had come to accept over the ten years of his life. And so, it was no surprise to him whatsoever that he awoke from his stasis period to the sound of his sister's angry yelling. The surprise came a moment later as he realized that she wasn't yelling at _him_ this time.

"And tell Eddie that if _he_ tries anything, I'll score a field goal with him! I'll do it!" Roll finished her rant against whoever was apparently outside of the locked door of the lab, then turned around and blinked as she saw that her brother's eyes had opened. "Oh. You woke up. Nice timing."

"I try my hardest." Mega chuckled lightly. "Do I even want to know who ticked you off this time?"

"Auto." Roll made an exasperated murmur as she crossed back over to his side. "It was his first time seeing you really beat up. He turned into a complete mother hen. Walking in circles, always asking what he could do to help me, demanding to know when you'd wake up, repeating inquiries as to if I was _absolutely sure_ you were all right... he's just lucky I put up with it as long as I did."

"Glad to see you show sympathy for the young." Mega said, sitting up. "He's not quite used to your moods yet. Can't really fault him for not knowing when he's pushing it."

"Exactly. Glad to see you know me so well. Now if only you'd _use_ that knowledge now and then..." She clasped her hands and gazed upwards, and her brother chuckled.

"And deprive you of all the enjoyment you get from railing on me? Now that's just mean." Mega joked back, checking his systems. "You'd get so _bored_ that way... ah, perfect as always. Remind me to talk to dad about giving you a raise."

"Please do." Roll allowed herself one last smirk before becoming serious. "I'm guessing bombs, and I'm just glad they apparently weren't as powerful as Crash Man's."

"No arguments _there_." Mega Man agreed. Rising, he crossed to the window to give her a demonstration of the Danger Wrap. "Bombs _and_ bubbles. It's like Crash Man and Bubble Man had a kid, and that's just far more disturbing than anything I ever wanted to think about."

"Keep that up and I'm going to sterilize your brain next time I operate on you." Roll made a face as she watched the bubble float upward out of sight. "Bubbles, huh. Well, that explains that chemical slime you had all over you. I was wondering about that. Had a hell of a time getting that stuff all the way off. I really wish you'd stick to _simple_ injuries."

"Like the time Ring Man sliced me up and lodged one of his 'rangs in my leg?" Mega clarified innocently, leaned against the windowsill.

"Exactly. Like that. Souvenirs are always good." Roll answered in an equally simple tone, then casually tossed a wastebasket at his head, which was easily dodged, going out the window. "You're going to get that. And, uh, shouldn't you do something about that bomb too? I doubt anything's in the air right now save birds, and any of those stupid enough to fly into that deserve what they get, but that bubble _will_ pop eventually, and the roof doesn't really need a blast mark."

"Don't worry, it's on a timer." Mega assured her, then waited a few seconds. "At least I think it is. Crap." At that moment, the explosion was heard, and he continued as if it had come on time. "See? No problem."

"Auto!" Dr. Light's frustrated yell was audible throughout the entire house. "What did I tell you about blowing things up inside the house?"

"It wasn't me this time, dad!" Auto defended himself just as loudly. "I'm making you lunch, for crying out loud!"

"That's what I'm worried about!" Dr. Light shot back without missing a beat, and after a moment, Auto gave up with a incoherent snarl. Roll and Mega Man both laughed quietly at their family before sobering again.

"Well, that's one down, all the same." The robot girl noted. "No sign of any more, which means your choices are down to three. Any ideas?"

"I'm thinking Freeze Man." Mega explained. "Junk Man's the most physically intimidating, and Cloud Man's a flyboy. Those always piss me off."

"I guess that's as good a way of thinking as any." Roll admitted. "Just wait a few minutes, then; dad's upgrading Rush. No, not _the_ big upgrade; just a new radar system for his nose."

"Lemme guess. To help find any trace of Beat." Mega smiled. "I can wait a few minutes for that, no problem. The sooner we get him back the better."

"That was the original idea, yeah, but he'll be able to detect anything compatible with your systems within a mile, too." Roll explained, looking out the window and wincing as "Big Eddie's" stomped past. "And speaking of Rush, Auto's working on synthesizing a Energen Crystal so you can use the Rush Jet again."

"I just keep getting good news piled on me. Today's my lucky day, I guess." Mega leaned back on the table, smiling lightly. It was such a marked difference from the way he had been before the Rebellion that Roll couldn't help but frown, despite the good mood. "I just hope it lasts me through the Robot Master." As soon as he had said that, the vidphone in the lab began ringing. "Well, damn. If that's who I think it is, I just jinxed myself."

"Afraid so. It's the UN." Roll said with similar dismay. "At least Vinkus should still be there. Here ya go." Putting it on a large screen of one wall, she and her brother both turned to look upon the effective rulers of the world. Conveyed in holographic form from their locations around the world, the Ruling Council of the Untied Nations was formed of representatives from all of the world's countries, who decided on what actions their lands would take. It was also, as their own representative had once pointed out, "Full of bottle-sucking imbeciles who couldn't see beyond their own borders if you gave them the Hubble and enough illegal vision enhancers to supply an entire casino in Rio." The only two voices of sanity left were Vinkus and the current Head, the US's Councilor Martel. The former would be retiring within a week, and the latter would not last long alone even were he not in his seventies. Thus, it was anyone's guess as to how long the council would be able to remain in authority.

"Greetings, Mega Man. You as well, miss Roll." Martel was polite as always, though signs of stress and advancing age were plainly visible. The revelation of Wily's escape had obviously taken it's toll on him. "We were as dismayed as you to learn of Dr. Wily's return to the world, but pleased to see that you responded rapidly. I do believe you set a new record for getting one down."

"It's my job." Mega sighed. "I don't take pleasure in it, but I enjoy getting it done with. And I'll especially enjoy throwing him back in the slammer. My brother looked for another Skull Fortress, but wasn't able to find it in time, it seems. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing you need to apologize for." Martel assured them. "Your family has done more for the world than anybody could ask of you, and still is. If anything it was we who failed; perhaps we should have made an exception to the ban on the death penalty after all."

"You know I can't offer an opinion on that, Councilor." Mega bowed his head with a frown, sensing Roll grimace as well. Though the words did not actually appear in his vision, the grip of the First Law was still ironclad on his mind.

"Ah, yes. I apologize." Martel said, but none of his fellow representatives seemed to share the sentiment; several of them even seemed to relax a bit more at the reminder that, despite everything, their hero was still forbidden to harm even the worst of humans. "To the point, then; if there's anything the Council can do to assist you in this Rebellion, feel free to ask. I believe we owe you a few by this point."

"That's... very generous of you." Roll murmured, exchanging glances with her brother. Both of them knew that Martel would never have made a move that bold normally. To place the committee as subordinate to robots, even in the loosest terms, would cause permanent damage to his career. Doing so could only mean that Martel was not planning on extending said career for much longer.

"I appreciate the thoughts, councilors. There are, in fact, a couple of things that I could use some assistance with." Mega focused back on the subject at hand. "Firstly, the Skull Fortress. Even if I destroy the Robot Masters, there's no point unless I bring Wily back in after. Proto Man is still looking, of course, but the more eyes, the better. Second, if all of you could please check your countries for prominent robotocists who left the public eye recently, it would be helpful as well. I've encountered a Robot Master named Bass and his pet, Treble; they claim to have awoken alone with no knowledge of their creator, and are helping fight Wily."

"We wondered about those two." Vinkus muttered.

"We'll look into both matters immediately." Martel promised. "If that's all, then we'll leave you to your business. And good luck, Rock."

"Mega Man." The hero's smile was resigned, speaking the words for what seemed like the millionth time. "It's 'Mega Man' during a Rebellion, please. And thank you again, Councilors." As the transmission died, he turned to his sister. "Hope I get luck from you, too. I'm off as soon as I pick up Rush."

"Of course you do. Don't die, brother." Roll avoided the name issue entirely, forcing a smile on her face. "We'll be waiting for you back here."

----------------------------

"Come on, come on..." Freeze Man muttered to himself as he crouched over his console, intent on the task at hand. Had he been human, sweat would have drenched him; as it was, only the crushing grip he held on the keyboard could show his level of concentration to a viewer. It was so complete, he did not even notice when a visitor did, in fact, enter the room, but continued to direct his attention to the screen before sitting back and raising his arms with a whoop. "Oh yeah! Eat my fist, Onslaught! I am _the guy!_"

"Playing video games at a time like this?" The intruder's voice echoed in his ears, and Freeze Man flipped backwards over his chair instantly to point his palm at a smirking Bass, who didn't even twitch an eyelid at the threatening display. "Dad would flay you for tinfoil if he found out. And the second one's better, by the way."

"Oh, it's just you." Freeze Man lowered his hands quickly and pretended to stick them in pockets. "Big B. Had me worried there for a moment that ol' Blue Bummer had managed to avoid all my defenses. Wouldn't _that_ be a headache and a half. As for the games, come on, man. Until he actually gets here, there's nothing to _do._ Just wait around and get rusty. If beating up last-century comic book stars keeps my brain from reverting to MS-DOS, that's a _good_ thing."

"Hey, I didn't say _I_ had a problem with it." Bass admitted. "Just don't let dad catch on. Matter of fact, I'll give you a quick round or two on that myself... but only a couple, because we won't have time for more. 'Blue Bummer,' as you so eloquently nicknamed him, is on his way as we speak. That's why I'm here too. I just got here earlier." He paused as Treble growled an objection. "Okay, okay, why _we're_ here too. Sheesh, forget a guy's in the room and trip over his face once and you hear about it for the rest of the millennium."

"At least Big T's got more personality than Junk Man." Freeze Man sat back in his chair and spun it around, staring at the ceiling. "So then, let me hazard a guess. You're gonna be pulling the same buddy flick with Mega here that you did with Burst Man."

"Well, look who just won the internet." Bass nodded. "That's the plan, amigo. Probably want to make it a little more complicated this time, to keep up appearances, but more or less the same thing, yeah. Every time builds up his confidence more and more, until the point where he'll be inviting me into his damn home and introducing me to the family."

"You're practically related, anyhow." Freeze Man chuckled, then stopped his chair and shot Bass a direct look. "One thing bothers me; why don't you and me just go to work on him both at once? Not questioning your plan, it's a good plan, but we could just wipe him here and now, a lot simpler and easier."

"Yeah, yeah, we could do that. But we're not gonna." Bass shrugged helplessly. "Doctor's orders. Otherwise, it'd be a damn good idea; you're the best of your four, I know, and we could probably pull it off." His easygoing smile changed, becoming a sneer. "But you see, Freeze Man... that's not the point of these Rebellions. Not any more. Dad's not content to just kill the little blue boy these days. No, no, that ain't good enough. Dad wants him to _suffer_, and suffer _good._ The whole world domination kick's just for the sake of appearances. It's all about Mega Man now, and making his life a living hell. That's the only thing that matters to dad any more, which means it's the only thing that matters to me too." Now the sneer was growing, becoming a demented grin, much like his father's. But Bass' eyes remained locked in place, locked upon the Robot Master. "_Now in darkness, world stops turning, as the war machine keeps burning. _Do you get it, Freeze Man? Do you? Huh?"

"Yeah... yeah, I got it." Freeze Man had gone through a variety of emotions in rapid succession; shock, anger, despair, and now finally grim resolve. "But I'm not throwing the game. So does that mean my whole existence is just to break Big W out, and then die here? To lose? Sorry, B, but I'm not just gonna roll over and play dead. I'm giving hero man everything I have."

"That's the spirit." Bass clapped approvingly. "Hey, it's not like I'm going to be setting you up or anything. I'll just be watching. And if you do manage to win, hell, dad can't actually _complain _about that. Give it your best shot!"

"You bet I will." Freeze Man gestured towards his computer again. "Just like I will with this game here. Me and Spider-Man are going to kick your tail through your face, amigo!"

"I'll buy that when I see it." Bass snorted. "Let's party."

----------------------------

Mega Man's charged shot penetrated the polar bear's armored hide, and with one last rumbling groan, the gigantic robot collapsed into a pile of spare parts and slag. It was the second one so far that Freeze Man had set out guarding the entrance of his new home, an Environmental Monitoring Facility in the Yukon.

"Hell of a pair of watchdogs." Mega grumbled as he trudged through the knee-deep snow surrounding him. Outside of the fortress, nature's beauty surrounded him; treeborgs capped in white awaited the coming of spring eagerly. Normally, he would have loved such an atmosphere, but today, the Blue Bomber's thoughts were all on the business at hand, and the mission he had to fulfill. The front doors themselves had been ripped off, doubtless by a clumsy robot whose AI hadn't been complicated enough to open them. But that was the obvious route. Instead, Mega moved along the side until finding an emergency escape. "Much better." Climbing up the ladders and shooting the patrolling robots, he entered the facility. More robots were inside, of course, along with lurking spike pits, but such was par for the course and easily surpassed. More eye-drawing was the metallic skeleton of an entire tyrannosaur, embedded in a slab of ice that coated one entire wall. Pausing to stare at it, Mega whistled admiringly. "Well, the freak's got style, I'll give him that much. I just hope that's all this is... if this thing comes to life and attacks me, I'm petitioning the UN for a raise."

"You get paid for this job? Man, what a gyp!" Bass objected as he climbed down a ladder from an upper story. "I haven't seen a single paycheck! How about you, Treble?" Jumping down from the floor above in a single bound, Treble ignored that question entirely.

"Smart." Mega complimented the wolf. "And no, I don't get paid, Bass. It was a joke."

"I knew that. Just testing you. Oh, hey, another one of those things." Bass indicated the rex. "First one wasn't bad, but four of 'em gets old. Guy could at least choose some other dinos to model. At least they're just dead steel."

"Okay, good. On we go, then." Mega turned towards a stairway leading down, and after a moment, the other two robots followed. "I assume you've already checked the upper levels looking for the jerk of the day?"

"Yup, and he's not present, so he's gotta be down here." Bass nodded. "We came in from the roof. Thought the element of surprise would come in handy."

"That's a nice thought, but how'd you manage to get up _there_?" Mega wondered as they began jumping across pits, taking out ceiling-mounted cannons as they went.

"Hang gliders." Bass explained proudly. Treble paused from his task of chewing up a plasma-repellent 'bot to share his feelings on the matter with a distinctly annoyed grunt.

"Ha ha ha, oh, wow." Mega Man had to laugh at that. "You need to meet my brothers. Sounds like you'd get along with them."

"More allies is always good, I say. Oh, geez, not again..." Bass groaned, seeing the polar bear on a raised level at the end of the hall. "Those things are a pain in the ass, man."

"At least there's two of us this time." Mega noted, charging a blast.

"Got a point there!" Bass grinned, starting to fire. The polar bear returned it gamely, creating clumps of ice crystals and batting them at the heroes, but two plasma busters made short work of even the tank-like monstrosity, revealing a door behind it. Opening it, Bass blinked as falling snow hit him in the face. "What the hell? Oh, it's an enclosed courtyard."

"You couldn't see that from the roof?" Mega smirked as he and Treble walked out as well.

"Of course I could. I just forgot about it for a moment. Didn't seem important." Bass defended himself, then smacked his forehead. "Of course, if I had been paying more _attention_, I would have noticed _that_." Across the courtyard, the Dr. Wily symbol beckoned over a steel shutter.

"Something's wrong... I don't see any robots." Mega Man frowned. "There's no way we'll just walk across." As if in response to his suspicion, the shutter opened, and a sled emerged, bright green and ludicrously decorated by a skull with a carrot nose on the front. There was nothing funny about the jets that propelled it towards them, however. "Thought so! Heads up!"

"Whoa!" Bass clumsily dived out of the way. Mega and Treble dodged more gracefully, causing the black 'bot to mutter under his breath-at least until he noticed the sled's inhabitants. "Look out!" Black spheres with eyes painted on, they launched out into the air at high velocity, one at each of the three. Mega and Bass both blew theirs out of the sky, but Treble lacked a Buster, and instead resorted to his standard mauling. As it turned out, that was a mistake; the spheres were not 'bots. They were bombs, and the explosion of Treble's prey blew him into a wall, smoking. Eyes wide, Bass hastened over to check him. "Phew... only charred." Treble seemed to agree, shaking himself off with a snort and rising to his feet.

"Let's blast those things _before_ they get off from now on, all the same." Mega suggested grimly as another sled emerged.

"Gladly." Bass agreed, tight-lipped. The rest of the sleds were trashed without incident, and soon enough they were back inside in the antechamber. "Same deal as last time, I assume. You want me to just hang back and watch."

"Unless absolutely necessary, yes." Mega nodded firmly. "I'll manage. It's my job." The shutters parted, and they walked inside to face their foe.

----------------------------

"Another flashy entrance, looks like." Mega Man observed as the shutter slid shut behind Treble. At the opposite side of the room, Freeze Man was encased in a stalagmite of ice, eyes closed as if in sleep. "Man, back in the old days only one or two of them would pull flashy stuff like this. The rest would just introduce themselves nice and calm-like. Much more professional."

"Somebody sounds like a cranky old man." Bass snorted, leaning against the back wall with arms crossed as Freeze Man's eyes opened.

"I gotta agree with that!" His arms flexed, and the icy prison exploded in bits as Freeze Man stretched and yawned. "But then, we're both young punks, the way I hear it. So our opinions might not be entirely objective."

"Enemy's over here, frosty." Mega Man waved. "Leave him alone. I'm the one who'll be killing you."

"Feeling's mutual, gramps." Freeze Man struck a pose, stroking his jaw, then bent his knees slightly. "Come on, then." Both of them stood there, waiting for the other to make the first move. Seconds passed, gazes locked. Freeze Man made a "come-on" motion with one hand, but didn't twitch otherwise. More seconds passed.

"If this drags on, _I'm_ going to be a grandpa before you two do anything." Bass remarked, rolling his eyes. Treble yawned.

"Everybody's a comedian today." Mega muttered. "Of course, for me that's standard Monday. Fine." Bringing his arm up, he released a charged blast.

"Ha!" Freeze Man jumped a good ten feet into the air, touching the ceiling with one hand. "Nice shot, but-HUH?" His eyes widened as he realized that the blast had been _aimed_ at the height of his jump. Taking it full in the chest, he bounced off the wall and fell flat on his face.

"Knew you'd do that." Mega Man remarked unnecessarily, charging another blast. "Here, have an encore."

"Heh..." Freeze Man grinned as he slapped the floor. "Thanks, but no thanks!" A wave of sub-zero ice slid across the floor, frosting it over as it went. Mega Man and Treble both jumped it, but Bass was slower, and as the frost reached his feet, they were encased in the ice.

"Dammit, I... aw, no." Staring up, Bass saw that he had other problems. Somehow, the roof had grown pointed stalactites of ice, and now the entire array was falling on their heads. "Look out, man!"

"What? Oh-" Mega Man stared as well for an instant before they were all hit. Fortunately, his armor was only slightly penetrated instead of a full impalation like a human would have suffered. Still, pain was pain. Behind him, Bass' curses continued. Snarling, Mega ripped the ice skewers out, then jumped over Freeze Man, who had regained his footing and charged across the room.

"Nice reaction time! Very nice!" Freeze Man complimented him, turning on a dime.

"Should have paid more attention when you touched the ceiling, I guess." Mega grunted back, firing a flurry of shots.

"Your call, not mine!" The enemy Robot Master threw one palm out, this time straight towards him, and a sphere of ice was created, flying straight out at high velocity.

"Whoa!" Mega Man slid across the floor, under the shot. Rising, he fired more, but again Freeze Man simply took them as he slapped the floor again, then jumped to hit the ceiling as well. "Too much going on..." Mega stopped his rate of fire to charge a shot while trying to dodge both attacks. The sound of plasma fire behind him told him that Bass, at least, was taking care of himself. "Can't dodge all of-"

"Nope!" Freeze Man cheerfully agreed as he floored the hero with a punch, then followed up with another floor-frost.

"Oh, no you don't." Mega scrambled up and barely hurdled it, then fired his charged shot. "Back atcha!"

"And to you!" Freeze Man fired another sphere of ice an instant before being hit and knocked away.

"Right." Mega Man dropped and slid again, then blinked in realization. The shot had been angled low. Hit full on by the ice ball, the blue hero's entire body was covered in a coffin of ice that spread out in less than a second to completely encase him. Stationary and helpless, he could only watch as Freeze Man picked himself back up and walked over, smirking.

"Pretty cool, wouldn't you say?" The enemy joked. "I'm sure you'll figure a way out-if I let you, that is. Instead, allow me!" Effortlessly raising the slab of ice off the ground with both hands, he tossed it into the air, caught it with his hands over his back, then brought it down, _hard_. The ice was shattered in a brutal suplex, and Mega Man screamed before falling loose and limp. "Knew all that time spent watching WWF would come in handy!"

"Not cool... not cool." Mega winced, pulling himself up. "Time to switch up my game!" His colors changed, and as Freeze Man ran towards him again, he hit the enemy full-on with the Danger Wrap. "How's that!"

"Still cool, man." Freeze Man grinned as the chemical bubble froze on contact with him. The grenade exploded, and he skidded back a few feet, but a moment later he was jumping up to freeze the ceiling again.

"Gah, that didn't work at all..." Mega Man gave up and returned to his Buster, firing again as he slid away from his enemy. _Crap... this is bad. _"You're a tough one, I'll give you that."

"Leader of my gang!" Freeze Man proudly boasted, tossing another iceball, which Mega Man avoided. Shrugging, he iced the floor and charged along it again. "You should have picked up something more than that little firecracker before coming my way, gramps!"

"I've fought worse." Mega hit him in the chest with a charged shot and smiled grimly as the enemy went flying, then winced as more icicles pierced him. _But not with this little armament. This is _very_ bad. He's got to be running low on power, but so am I. This'll be right down to the wire._ _I'm going to have to gamble._ Storing another charged shot while dodging his enemy's moves, he waited until another iceball was launched, then stood and fired, knowing full well he would be hit. Sure enough, the icy prison covered him again.

"Heh heh heh... oww." Freeze Man laughed, then winced as he walked over to his trapped opponent once more. "Man, this smarts... but you're hurting worse, I'd wager. Time to finish this-eh?" He blinked, seeing the orange and purple armor under the ice. "Aw, no!" The point-blank blast knocked both Robot Masters away, but Mega Man recovered first, switching back to his Buster and peppering his enemy with multiple blasts before Freeze Man got back to his feet and threw another iceball, which he dodged.

"Man oh man, you just never quit." Freeze Man was limping, obviously in serious pain. Across the room, Mega Man was in similarly bad shape. Both locked eyes, once more staring each other down. "Well then... I figure we're both about through. Shall we do this old-west style, Big M?"

"Might as well..." Mega Man started charging a shot, and Freeze Man extended a palm. Both waited a beat, waiting for the moment of truth. But the moment never came.

"Duck." Bass' voice ordered Mega Man from behind, and the hero reacted instantly, dropping. Freeze Man, a moment slower, only stared as the black-armored Robot Master fired his elongated plasma shots. Pierced, he dropped to one knee, smoking.

"You... bastard." The icy Robot Master choked out as his systems began to shut down.

"Sorry." Bass watched him die without a trace of emotion. "I lied." Once Freeze Man was dead, he turned to help Mega Man off the floor. "Well, not really, I suppose. I _did_ say I'd only step in if I needed to."

"I could have taken him." Mega Man protested. "I've done that before."

"There's always an element of uncertainty." Bass disagreed firmly. "If there's no other option, yeah, that kind of risk can work. But I'm not going to trade a sure thing for a risky gamble just because you told me to. Look, you're alive, he's dead, and I was never in any real danger. As far as I'm concerned, that's good enough."

"I guess." Mega grumbled, but he knew Bass had a point. Crossing to Freeze Man's corpse, he began digging through it for the weapons chip. "I suppose this means I owe you one, then."

"If you want to. Way I see it, you're paying me back by teaching me about how not to get killed." Bass shrugged. "That, and these armor chips. Brought another one, by the way-almost forgot. What do you think, Treble?" The robotic wolf woofed. "Well, there you go. He agrees with me."

"Very funny." Mega Man pulled out his prize. "Here we go... the Freeze Cracker. That nasty iceball. And... looks like my version'll splinter and rebound if it hits a wall. That probably won't do the ice-coffin bit, but it'll still come in handy. You know, if you wanted, I'm sure dad could put a Master Weapons system in for you."

"I'm cool." Bass maintained. "I appreciate the gesture, really, but... I don't even know who _my_ creator is. Maybe once I find out, I'll feel differently, but until then... I just don't really want anybody else altering my systems. It'd feel weird, is all. You get where I'm coming from?"

"Kind of, I guess." Mega sighed. "Well, it's your call. If you get badly injured in a fight, though, I'm going to insist on you coming back for a repair job, at least."

"We'll talk about that if it happens." Bass shook his head stubbornly, crossing to Freeze Man's computer. "Let's see... aha, these shutdown commands are right here." A couple of clicks, and he stood back with a smirk. "You'd think they'd make it a little harder than _that_. Oh well, I shouldn't complain. See you next time, then." Pulling out the armor chip he had mentioned, he threw it to Mega, who caught it without a word. That done, Bass and Treble warped out, and a moment later, Mega Man did so as well.


	7. Chapter 6: Sky High Dreamer

_**Chapter 6: Sky High Dreamer**_

"Well, at least there isn't a line." Mega Man said to himself in a vain attempt to feel better about what he was doing. Normally, checking in with a family member for help was the farthest thing from being uncomfortable. It was what family was for. But to be seen willingly approaching "Big Eddie's" as it went about its rounds, in broad daylight, was a bit much. It wasn't as if he actually cared about his reputation-again, the opposite was more the case, usually-but even so... "No helping it, I guess." All the same, he closed his eyes as the bottom of the shop opened a hatch and extended a platform down. Climbing aboard, he was lifted inside for the first time. It wasn't much better than the outside. The workbenches, covered with loose tools and parts, were the _least_ offensive to the eyes; far moreso were the brightly illuminated computers and other, stranger machinery (the function of most of those were easily beyond Mega). The myriad metal replicas of Eddie, both flat and three-dimensional, crowning many places were just the topping on the cake of insanity. Eddie himself, at least, seemed to realize the absurdity of it all; his eyes seemed apologetic as he beeped a greeting from where he stood next to a stool. The architect of the madness was seated atop that same stool, facing away at the moment as he worked on something with a screwdriver.

"Hi there, friend, and welcome to Big Eddie's, the world's first self-mobile robotics workshop!" Auto greeted his brother with what sounded like a standard spiel, not turning around. "I'm Auto Light, Dr. Light's number one student, and I'll be taking your orders for today!" He scratched his head. "Unfortunately, I've lost one of my bolts and so I've got a couple of screws loose, haha! Although my siblings would say I came standard like that! I'll try my hardest anyways, though! We sell both raw materials and finished products here, whichever you're in the market for! Now then, how can I help you today?" Spinning around, he finally saw who it was. "Oh! Rock! No charge for the family, of course, heh heh..."

"Mega Man." The hero sighed, then smiled. "And I'd agree that you came with screws loose, bro. We love ya anyways, though. Have you had any luck synthesizing that Energen Crystal like you were trying?"

Discovered by Sennet Robotics years ago, Energen Crystals were a strange, rare mineral formation of great value in storing power. Able to absorb energy far beyond the capacity of any chemical or electric battery, the crystals could provide additional power sources to devices without overloading the main generator. However, Energen was currently only found in seven locations across the world and one on the moon. Each mine's crystals were tinted a different color, which warped the energy stored within a slight but undangerous amount. This was more an annoyance than anything else, making systems designed for one tint incompatible with others. Two of Rush's wartime functions, the Rush Jet and Rush Marine, required Green and Black crystals respectively to be available. Unfortunately, the chaos of Rebellions made the ordering of such from their mines in Africa and Italy virtually impossible.

"None whatsoever." Auto sighed heavily. "Sorry, bro. I tried my best, but I just can't figure it out with my head like this. Once the replacement part comes in, I'll be able to whip it up, sure. Until then..." He shrugged helplessly. "Tanks are all I can do."

"Well, a couple of E-Tanks always come in handy." Mega smiled, trying to cheer him up. Another energy storage device, E-Tanks were manmade, used for refills of energy rather than permanent augmentation. "Filling up" was a commonly used term derived from ancient, gasoline-powered vehicles. "Especially with Bass around; if I can get a couple of those, I should probably give him one, just in case. It'll be great to have a reliable source of them, believe me. Until now, I've had to rely on ones I could scavenge in the field and wherever Eddie managed to find the ones he always brought me. The usual Rebellion panic makes them sold out pretty much everywhere else as soon as the old man's ugly mug hits the airwaves."

"Well, those days are over with. Sixty bolts a pop, and you've got a Tank." Auto assured him, then brightened up. "Ooh, that reminds me! One thing I _can_ still get right. You know those super M-Tanks that Wily cooked up?"

"You can make _those_?" Mega fought to keep his jaw from dropping. The "M-Tank" Mega had encountered in the Fifth was an E-Tank on steroids, refilling all of his weapons energy as well as his own power.

"Well... no, not until I get my bolt back..." Auto deflated a bit, then returned to normal. "But I will then! I'll call 'em S-Tanks, though. Sounds niftier, see. And even now, I _did_ manage to isolate the weapons energy portion for one of those, so now I can whip up a W-Tank for a hundred bolts! Granted, you've only got two Master Weapons right now, but once you pick up more, they might come in handy."

"Sound great, Auto." Mega smiled genuinely. "You're right, those will come in handy. For now, though, just two E-Tanks."

"Got it, hero man." The hefty green robot gave him a thumbs-up, hopped off his stool and walked over to one of the workkshop's many odd machines. "Let me just get the Tankificator here going, then..."

"Tankificator, Auto?" Mega protested mildly, then left it at that and simply handed over the bolts. Despite his misgivings over Auto's sense of style, the fact that the eccentric robot knew his business was indisputable, and Mega enjoyed watching him work.

"All right..." Ignoring the comment, Auto began feeding the bolts into a hatch in the top of the machine, then fiddled with apparati on its side, humming a little as he went along. "Let's see here... standard Robot, check... S, W, L, ah, here we go, E."

"Isn't an L-Tank Proto Man's secret recipe?" Mega remembered, raising an eyebrow. "How'd you manage to pry that out of him?"

"I haven't yet." Auto admitted. "I'm trying to replicate it myself from what I know about it. No luck so far, though. The last try was so nasty even Rush wouldn't touch it. Anyways... press a button or two, and hey presto!" The machine made loud clanging and rattling noises, and from a port near the base, a canister was ejected at high velocity, bouncing off the wall to land next to a startled Mega Man. "Haha, my aim's as perfect as always!"

"I'll murder ya..." Mega muttered halfheartedly, but couldn't hide his smile as he picked up the metallic blue can, proudly bearing a "E" stamped on its side. "Well, this is an E-Tank all right. Nice job, bro."

"What do I keep telling you people? I'm a genius." Auto announced proudly while the machine worked away at a second Tank. As he struck a pose, the can was fired out, this time at an angle that caused it to rebound off Eddie, who went flying into a pile of wrenches with a shriek.

"Real smooth, Lance." Mega commented again as he picked up the second Tank.

"Aw geez, sorry, Ed." Auto fished him out. "You okay?" A series of extremely irritated-sounding beeps was his reply. "Hey, hey, there's no call for _that_ kind of language. Watch it, or I'll tell dad you said that about him, and he'll get his golf clubs."

"As amusing as this all is, I really should be going on to deal with Cloud Man." Mega told his brother and the little suitcase. "He's not going to blow himself out of the sky, after all. Keep your spirits up, Auto. Maybe if we get lucky, I'll find a replacement bolt for your head lying around one of the Robot Masters' places. They might have machinery that uses the same parts, or something. You never know."

"Yeah, sure, and maybe it'll rain pigs too." Auto muttered, but smiled nonetheless. "Get going, champ. Give 'em hell for us."

"Hey, I've done it with Energen Crystals. And thanks for the well-wishes. I'll make sure to do so." Waving, Mega Man walked out of Big Eddie's back onto the streets of town. After a quick look around to see if anybody had been watching him go into the architectural monstrosity, he warped away into the heavens.

----------------------------

"Blast and damnation." Mega Man groaned as he looked around the location he had arrived at. Cloud Man's captured territory in Nepal was described as a "high-altitude weather observation platform," a term that had sounded oddly familiar to the blue hero-and not in a good way. Now that he had actually arrived, he could see why, right away. A similar facility had been taken over by Gyro Man in the Fifth, and being here now instantly brought back memories of _that_ particularly unpleasant ordeal. Heights were unpleasant to Mega Man, and wiseass Robot Masters made them even moreso. "Well, at least Bass won't tape the circuit plate to a collapsing bridge over a two-mile drop." Mega attempted to reassure himself as he continued walking forward. That attempt was ended within seconds as he saw the sign that was waiting for him, electric neon proudly displaying its message. "What... oh, _no,_ this _again..._"

_Hi, Mega Man. Looks like I got here well before you for once. I'm going on ahead to try my hand against the bad guy now that I've seen a couple of 'em go down to you. Thought about taping the circuit plate here, but then I had a better idea. I'll hide it somewhere along the way and see if you can figure out how to get it! Sounds fun, huh? Catch you at the end of the line! -Bass_

"Dammitall, Bass..." Mega growled, feeling like there really should be a vein in his forehead throbbing right about now. "This isn't a freaking game!" Kicking the sign off the edge into open air made him feel slightly better. "I suppose I shouldn't complain since he's giving the things to me for free, but all the same... he's so _green._ Was I ever _that_ young?" Shaking his head with a wry chuckle, he continued taking his frustrations out on the robots flying in to bar his way as he jumped from one precarious foothold to another across the sky. Unlike the previous domains, this path had never been intended for travel on foot by humans or anything like them, making travel a risky procedure involving leap after leap over a staggering amount of dead air. Slipping was a fatal mistake, as was missing a shot against an enemy. Fortunately, these conditions were just another bad Monday for Mega Man by now, and he nailed every jump and shot perfectly until he came across a strange-looking robot even by the standards of his life.

White with red stars, it looked like the target of a Badminton game, having a group of fins clumping together into a cone that seemed to be some sort of antigravity device, keeping it afloat without any obvious propulsion. Atop the narrow end of the cone was a spherical head containing eyes only, which focused silently upon Mega Man as he stared back. It didn't appear to be hostile in any way, simply bobbing up and down in the air.

"Well, I've seen weirder. Better safe than sorry." Mega grunted, shooting it and expecting a counterattack. Instead, the robot reversed its fins around its entire head, deflecting the shot. As it did so, the clouds around them darkened, and within seconds, rain was pouring down around them. Slack-jawed, now Mega Man was the one staring silently after the little 'bot as it flew up and away. Looking around at the torrential downpour, he shook his head, amazed despite himself. "Okay then, maybe I _haven't _seen weirder. What the heck was _that_?" Climbing up a ladder onto a higher level of the platform, he blinked as he came face-to-face with the same robot again. It was bobbing once more, seemingly not holding a grudge from the shot. "Man, what are you, anyways? Some sort of experimental weather control robot? I doubt you're Wily's, he'd have used this sort of thing as a weapon by now if he could... local tech damaged in the invasion, maybe?" The robot didn't respond, even when he shot it again. Despite himself, Mega found himself smiling. "Oh, not responding to that any more, are we? Let's try something different, then..." Changing to his new weapon, he unleashed the Freeze Cracker upon the blank-faced robot. The reaction this time was even better; as its fins became encased in solid ice, the rain turned into snow, and the robot dropped out of sight, much heavier now. Mega Man watched it fall, amused smile still present.

"Hee hee! Fun little thing! Now I wonder what other reactions would do!" For a moment, thoughts of warfare and death ceased to plague him, and he thought only of the momentary amusement. Unfortunately, it was only a moment. "What am I doing... and here I was just moaning about _Bass_ acting like a kid. Pull yourself together, Mega. You've got a job to do, and it's not playing with weather toys."

Most of the actual enemy robots were, unsurprisingly, flying models. Birds in flocks of four, rocket-powered pods that zoomed up whenever he would be forced to jump, propeller-lifted clusters of guns... they all went down as easily as their land-and-sea-based brethren had. Only the constant threat of gravity kept Mega from growing bored at the tedium. That, and the snowflakes drifting down; despite everything, he was pleased to notice that he still found a simply joy in the weather's beauty. Some things, at least, even war couldn't change. That wasn't the only effect the snow had, however; looking ahead, the Blue Bomber saw something new even to him. Piles of snow, apparently suspended in the air.

"Glass platforms." Mega snapped his fingers after a long moment of simply staring. "They'd be practically invisible to me otherwise." Looking more carefully, he saw a few snow piles six feet or so above the main path halfway down, with another neon sign sticking out from them. This one was much simpler. _Here you go!_ "That's what he meant by 'figure out how.' Good thing the weather's in my favor, then." Chuckling, Mega used Rush to springboard up to the sign, and after a few moments of digging in the slush, pocketed the circuit plate. "So much for Bass' little game. Now I just have to catch up with the idiot before he gets himself killed!"

It was a ways later, inside a stretch of the path that took him through the interior of a tower and out of the snow, that Mega was made aware of yet another explorer of the area. A five-note whistle, by now as familiar as his own Buster, came from under a ladder he was passing by.

"Well, I'll be." The hero stopped immediately and turned to climb up it with a smile, clasping his elder brother's hand as he reached the storage room at the top. "Hey, Proto. Should have figured you'd show up at the sky-high place."

"High places kick ass, and you know it." Proto Man said with a smile of his own. "Besides, it's been a while since I said hi, so I thought I'd just check in and report how I was doing. That, and see that Bass guy you mentioned for myself."

"Oh, you ran into Bass and Treble, huh?" Mega chuckled, sitting down on a crate. "What's your impression?"

"Nice kids. Greener than Auto, but nice." Proto leaned against a wall with a shrug. "They should turn out well, give 'em enough time. Don't trust them, of course, but then I have a hard time trusting _anybody_ outside of the family these days. One certain little house in Russia aside. Scratch my paranoia, and you can probably count on 'em in a tight spot."

"Pretty much what I was figuring." Mega agreed, dropping the smile. "Unfortunately, I don't think they're quite ready to take on a Robot Master yet. So I need to catch up with them before this Cloud Man jerk gives them the pancake makeover."

"Right. I'll make it quick, then." Proto nodded. "No luck on finding their creator, unfortunately, but the Cossacks are using some contacts they have in different places around the world, so maybe that'll turn something up. Nothing specific on the Skull Fortress, but I've got it narrowed down to eastern Asia-intercepted a transmission of Wily's and got that much out of it before he killed the line. Dumb luck, but I'm not complaining."

"Anything interesting in the transmission?" Mega raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Caught something about Beat. Specifically, he intends to 'put him with the other caged birds,' whatever the hell that means." The elder Robot Master shrugged again. "He's Wily. Expecting rationality out of him is like expecting a cow to give maple syrup. That's the Proto report today, brother mine, so I'll be out of here. Good luck with boltboy."

"Catch you later, Proto." Saluting, Mega climbed back down and continued on his way. Exiting the hall below through its proper door, he found himself across a bridge from the steel shutter, the robots in his way now unpleasantly familiar. They had been upgraded, but the Fan Fiends and Bomb Birds were still easily recognizable as the crack troops of Air Man back in the Second Rebellion. Fortunately, memories were the only unpleasant things, as they hadn't changed their attacks a bit and were thus easily brought down. "But this means Bass is in there already. _Derr'mo_. I just hope I'm not too late." Muttering a few more Russian curses under his breath for good measure, Mega Man charged through the shutter.

----------------------------

The first thought that crossed Mega Man's mind as he entered the battle's stage was relief; Bass and Treble were both clearly visible, and still functioning. That only lasted for a moment before being replaced by worry, though, as neither was in good shape. Treble was lying on his side, struggling to get to his feet without much success; his metallic hide charred, the smell of burning synthfur was clearly noticeable. Bass seemed relatively undamaged, but that was little comfort since he dangled by his fingers from the edge of the platform. Unlike the more standard room, Cloud Man had apparently opted to fight from the top of a hanging turret built out of the facility's side; a narrow bridge was the only thing on any side of it except the fall. The Robot Master himself hovered in the air over Bass, clearly enjoying his enemy's discomfort.

"I must say, that wasn't a very fun game at all." Cloud Man said, barely looking dinged himself and completely oblivious to Mega Man's presence. "It's never fun when the opponent isn't challenging, and I'm sorry to say you're not really good at this at all. Freeze Man thought you would be, you know. But he's dead and I'm not, so it makes sense that he was wrong, doesn't it? Or does it?"

"Cram it, Weatherman Paulie." Bass snarled, trying to pull himself up.

"Oh no, we can't have any of this." Cloud Man wagged a finger, then raised his arms-however, whatever attack he was preparing to use was interrupted by a charged shot in the back. "Oww! Who did that?"

"Over here, skyboy." Mega waved. "Bass, get Treble and get back out of here-he's hurt. I'll handle the airhead."

"But-" Bass tried to protest as he managed to get back to his feet.

"_Do it!_" Mega snapped, and after a half-hearted mutter, the black-armored Robot Master complied, picking up Treble and heading back out through the steel shutter.

"Hm..." Cloud Man showed little notice or care to his former target's departure; his eyes were firmly locked on Mega Man now. "Your face looks familiar... I've got it!" He snapped his fingers and pointed. "You're Mega Man, aren't you?"

"Give the robot a cigar." Mega nodded. "Not sure what you'd do with it, since you don't have much of a mouth, but I'm sure you can think of something."

"I'm not here to smoke cigars! Not if you're Mega Man!" Cloud Man yelled, then paused, rubbing the spot under his face where a chin would go. "Maybe if you weren't Mega Man, I'd take you up on that... but you are! That means I have to kill you!"

"Try it." Mega deadpanned, firing again. This time, however, Cloud Man easily swerved through the air out of the way, his antigravity systems providing him complete three-dimensional movement. Rising ten feet into the air, he glared down at Mega Man, who scowled back. _Fast for a fat guy. Damn._

"Now it's my turn!" Raising his hands, Cloud Man summoned a bolt of lightning down from the heavens, which struck... Cloud Man.

"Nice aim." Mega cracked, then blinked. His enemy had _absorbed_ the elctricity through his cone-shaped head ornament.

"Thank you!" The enemy happily released a second bolt of lightning from his hands that hit Mega head-on.

"Arrgh..." Grunting, Mega dug in his heels to keep himself from convulsing as the electricity ran through him. His armor protected him from most of the burn damage, and his microfusion generator was fully shock-protected, but all of that didn't stop it from hurting like hell. "Piece of _shit!_" The moment he was free, the hero fired a flurry of shots, several of which pegged Cloud Man despite his attempts to fly away. Lowering back to near the ground, the enemy raised his hands again.

"Fine, then! Here's something else!" Behind Mega, a whirring noise drew his attention to the wall of the facility he had exited through. Hidden before, numerous turbofans were now revealed as they sprang into life, creating wind pressure that began pushing Mega Man back.

_Maybe if I freeze him up, this'll cut out!_ Gritting his teeth, Mega Man did his best to run against the gusts and quietly switched weapons. The gloating Cloud Man was taken completely off-guard by a Freeze Cracker, but his response was merely a blink and a shrug.

"Was that all? As if the master of weather wouldn't be resistant to temperatures. This is boring, just waiting for you to fall off... how can I make it more interesting? Oh, I know!" He raised his hands for more lightning, but this time channeled it into the floor, creating waves of electricity. "My aim would be shot like this; I'm impressed yours isn't! So instead, you can play hurdles!"

"Gee, thanks!" Mega snarled, trying the Bubble Wrap instead before leaping the first wave. This weapon proved much more effective, instantly encasing Cloud Man's entire body in the bubble.

"What?" Looking around in surprise, Cloud Man's eyes quickly fell upon the bomb. "Oh no!" The explosion scattered the cloud around his waist, and its rider fell to earth on his back, bouncing once before lying still and groaning.

"Well, well." Mega Man advanced menacingly as the fans shut off with their master's distraction. "Looks like I've found your weakness. How about that." He began firing plasma bullets into the inert Cloud Man.

"Why, you lousy jerk!" Materializing another cloud, the Wilybot rose into the air again, then charged headlong. "I know what I'll do with you now! I'll just pummel you to bits with my fists!"

"Incorrect. Minus ten points." Mega drawled, hitting him with another Danger Wrap.

"Damn this stupid thing!" Cloud Man yelled in fury, beating against the bubble's walls. It did no good; the bomb exploded, and he fell again to take more plasma damage before rising. "It's stupid! _You're_ stupid! That's it, no more playtime!" He raised his hands to summon the lightning, and Mega winced as it struck him once more, but stood his ground.

"Sorry, pal. Just like the others... just not good enough." A third Burst Wrap put Cloud Man on his back for the last time, plasma barrage finishing him off. Turning wearily, Mega Man saw Bass emerge from the shutter.

"Save the lecture, okay?" Bass said instantly, slumping. "I know I was stupid and overconfident, and would have been dead meat had you not come along when you did. That's one I owe you, now."

"Forget it. Way I see it, we're even from Freeze Man." Mega brushed that aside. "More importantly, how's Treble?"

"Better than he looks. It's mostly just surface damage." Bass smiled now. "I should be able to fix him up, no sweat. I know his systems pretty well."

"If you say so." Mega frowned after a moment. "But I stand by what I said earlier. If _you_ get beat up really bad, I'm hauling you home whether you like it or not."

"That's fair enough." Bass admitted, then chuckled. "Smart, too, since Treble can't exactly work on _me._"

"Exactly my line of thought." Mega laughed a bit as well, then fell silent. "Seriously, though. You did good just to survive, but don't try this again any time soon. Luck isn't reliable. Just wait, watch me, and learn. When I first hit the field, the guys I was up against weren't anywhere near as advanced as these ones are, so I had time to improve. You need to do the same."

"I told you, I got it already." Bass winced. "Look. He's dead, we're not, good enough for me. Now let's blow this joint, huh?"

"As soon as I find the computer." Mega looked around. "Have to shut everything down, and it's obviously not out here."

"Ahead of you on that one, at least." Bass gave him a thumbs-up. "It's through a side door back in that antechamber. Already killed it all."

"Then all I need is the Weapons Chip." Mega smiled, crossing to Cloud Man and prying off a plate of armor. "Good work on that, at least." Locating the chip for the Thunder Bolt, he absorbed it, then waved to Bass. "I'm out, then. See you at the last one."

"Last for now, anyways." Bass said grimly before teleporting away, and after a moment, Mega followed suit.


	8. Chapter 7: Junkyard Clod

_**Chapter 7: Junkyard Clod**_

"Hey, Roll." Mega Man spoke as he awakened from stasis, though his eyes remained closed and his body motionless. Even his mouth only moved the slightest possible amount. "Do me a favor, would you?"

"What is it?" Roll asked without moving from her own position, where she was typing away on a computer in the corner of the lab.

"Can you give me an advance warning on how angry you are for the beating I took yesterday?" Her brother explained, still remaining still. "Just so I know exactly what I'm going to be in for now that I'm awake."

"Well, all things considered, that one wasn't really that bad." Roll kept up her part of the act as well, refusing to even turn and look at him. "Minor plasma burns and physical denting, probably from the flunkies. There was electrocution, of course, but that's hardly a surprise by now and from the scorch areas, it looks like you only got tagged once or twice this time. So, all in all, not bad at all."

"Oh." Mega Man was silent for a moment, thinking this over. "So, you're not angry at me this time, then?"

"Well, we also have to consider that you ran out of the house after the last time, in which you were in an absolutely wretched state." Roll reminded him, eyes still locked on the screen. "So that I was barely able to yell at you at all for that one."

"Oh yeah. There is that, as well." Mega admitted. "I was hoping you would have forgotten that. Or at least forgiven."

"You know me better than that." His sister corrected him again.

"I suppose I do." Mega sighed. In a flash, he was on his feet and racing towards the window, intending to barrel through it and out onto the lawn to safety; a two-story drop was nothing to him. Unfortunately, the window was closed, and while he was able to notice this in time to cancel his leap, there was nothing to be done about the momentum, which carried him into the wall with a thud that shook the building.

"Auto!" Dr. Light yelled, almost automatically by now it seemed. "Don't attack the house!"

"_What?_" Auto's yell was guttural with disbelief.

"Mega did it!" Roll defended him this time, smirking at her brother.

"Oh." Dr. Light thought this over for a moment. "Well, don't think about doing it in the future, Auto! And the same goes for you, Mega!"

"I'm in the same boat as Auto now?" Mega Man got to his feet, clutching his head. "I protest this thoroughly."

"Noted. We'll hold a family vote on the matter whenever Blues returns home next." Roll chuckled quietly. "Who knows when that will be, of course. Until then, you will officially be referred to as Auto's Number One Apprentice."

"And you're officially disowned." Mega shot back.

"Damn. And I was so hoping for that old Nintendo of yours out of your will." The female robot finally turned away from her computer. "All right, enough buffoonery for the moment. I'd say the wall managed to give you what you deserve, so that's done with."

"Thanks awfully." Mega growled, checking said wall for evidence of a dent-ever since the incident when he had first tried out his charged shot, Dr. Light had responded to even the slightest damage to the architecture with massive retribution.

"No charge." Roll smiled cutely, then dropped it. "Anyways, now you have three down. And with no others putting in an appearance just yet, it looks like you at least get to skip worrying about which one is the best to go after next. Junk Man's your only option left."

"Yeah, and with any luck, I shouldn't have too much trouble here either." Mega said, sitting back down where he had been lying previously. "I've got three Master Weapons, and Freeze Man claimed to be the strongest of the lot; backed it up, too. Even if he's second best, one of these weapons should be able to bring him down without any trouble."

"That stands to reason, yes." Roll agreed. "The real problem is, what comes afterwards."

"Wily won't just step up to bat after four." Mega agreed. "If it was six, there'd be an outside chance, but never four. He's just playing up the drama, waiting for me to take Junk Man out of the picture so the people can relax in relief, for just a moment. Then he'll hit them again. He's probably already got four more built, waiting in Skull Fortress for their chance."

"Well, that certainly sounds like him. By now, you know him better than anybody." Roll spoke without thinking, and winced as soon as she realized what she had done.

"Unfortunately." Mega Man let it slide without comment, not even changing facial expressions. "Wily's a creature of habit. It's all he has left. It's like breathing to him by now. Eight Robot Masters, then the Fortress. It must be difficult enough for him to go back to having me come straight for him, instead of chasing down his decoy; that's happened four times now if you count Doc Man." He paused for a moment, almost hearing the ghost of a maniacal laugh, before continuing. "He won't change anything else. No, the question is _where_ they'll strike."

"The UN Council aren't stupid either." Roll mentally slapped herself again. "Okay, scratch that. Vinkus and Martel aren't stupid. They might not know Wily quite as well as you do, but they'll know this isn't right, and tell the rest of the council to be prepared."

"Just as long as they don't get trigger happy and send in armed forces or anything." Mega scowled at the thought. Crazy as it might seem to pit one robot against hundreds, to send humans against the enemy was even more suicidal. The first Robot Rebellion had been the only one in which that had been attempted, and all that had been accomplished was ramping the numbers of the slaughtered up even more.

"There's one upside to Vinkus' prejudices, I guess." Roll snorted. "He'd sooner sign over all his worldly possessions to the construction of a Wilyworld theme park than send poor, innocent humans to be mutilated by 'our kind,' no bet."

"Everything serves a purpose." Mega shrugged the joke off. "He'll never be our favorite person, but he keeps the real scum in line. I'll shake his hand and call him friend any day of the week for that. And by this point, he might even let me." Standing up, he looked out the window. "Well, sitting around here all day chatting about the future and its woes isn't particularly entertaining, and it's certainly not getting anything done. I'd better be off."

"Just remember, if I need to spend more than eight hours repairing you again, you're getting a wrench lodged in your eye socket." Roll reminded him, then blinked. "Oh, one more thing. That Bass guy holding up okay?"

"Eh, he got in a scrape with Cloud Man, but Treble was the one who really took most of the pain from that." Mega shrugged. "I've been keeping an eye on him for the most part, so he's managed to avoid real damage. If he does get his butt handed to him, though, I hope you don't mind me dragging him back here."

"Oh, sure. Just what I needed, sewing up _two_ idiot boys who'll probably stick their tongues in wall sockets as soon as I'm done." Roll clutched her head theatrically, then laughed. "Just kidding, bro. I wouldn't expect any less of you. Do your best to keep him in shape, though; if at all possible, I'm sure he'd prefer to _not_ be holding one arm on with the other the first time he meets an actual girl of his own species. I'm not quite sure why, but you males seem to have an issue about that sort of thing. At least in my experience."

"I'm not even going to comment on that one, sis." Mega just sighed. "All right, I'm out. Watch the news in case Wily goes off before I get back."

"Will do." His sister saluted. "Knock 'em dead, bro."

The lair of the last Robot Master was much more subdued than those of his three allies, Mega Man noticed as soon as he materialized in a side hall. It had been a bleak, efficient place when in operation, nothing more, and its new owner hadn't seen fit to tamper with that. Now, though, a great deal of the processing machinery was inactive, hanging motionless and silent from the ceiling. The lamps that dangled similarly flickered weakly, as if even they were denied all but the most minimal amount of power.

"This place looks like it's about ready for the wrecking balls." Mega Man noted to himself with a snort of disapproval. "I'm surprised the place isn't infested." As if on cue, a robotic roach scuttled around a corner and stared at him with comically large eyes before fluttering through the air at him. A plasma blast took it out, and the blue hero mentally kicked himself. "Right, I suppose I asked for that. At least there was only one." Smiling, he dropped it instantly as three more roaches rounded the corner. "You know what? I'm just going to stop talking entirely now." Slagging them all, he tracked down the source-what looked like a pile of scrap was actually a device to mass-produce the simple 'bots. Fortunately, it was no more invincible than its creations, and neither were the others found as Mega made his way through the plant, into the smelting section. This, at least, was still active and alive, pools of molten metal swirling and mixing under rickety-looking but sturdy catwalks. The heat was sweltering, even for a robot.

"Glad as I am to see life in this place, I kinda wish it had been a different section." Mega winced, then paused in his path. Something else was making noise that sounded like speech, and it was barely audible. Following it, he came to one wall, where a portion was obscured by a falling stream of molten metal from an overhead spigot. Now that he was this close, he could make out what was being said.

"Shit! Ass! Dammitall!" It was Bass, and from the sound of things, he was behind the pouring metal.

"Sounds like you're in a bit of trouble back there, buddy." Mega yelled back.

"That you, Mega Man?" The other robot's voice still sounded irritated. "Yeah, we're in trouble. The jerkass in charge trapped me and Treble back here. There's a mini-EM shield around this cubbyhole."

"I fell for that one myself back in the Fifth." Mega pulled up the Freeze Cracker and took aim. "The good news is, you've got somebody here to bail you out." Firing at the spigot, he smiled as it frosted over instantly, the cold spreading down the falling metal and even over the surface of the vat, solidifying it within seconds. "Whoa, didn't expect it to pack that much punch. Oh well, good news is, the stuff should be brittle now. One good blast should do it. Stand back." A well-aimed Danger Wrap later, the barrier crumbled, revealing a disgruntled-looking Bass and Treble in a tiny cubbyhole.

"Thanks, man. Treble could have dug us out eventually, but it'd be a pain in the ass." Bass pulled a fourth circuit plate from his armor and tossed it to Mega Man. "You earned that one. That should complete the set."

"Awesome. Dad's confirmed that they'll work with Rush and me, so he'll have that stuff up and running by tomorrow." Mega pocketed it and pulled out one of the E-Tanks Auto had made for him. "Here, take this in return. I forgot to gave it to you last time. I assume you know what it is."

"Of course I do. I'll take you up on that. Be prepared, and all that jazz." Bass gratefully accepted the canister. "Now then, if we're done exchanging presents, how about we get back to finding that piece of shit Junk Man and separating him from his joints?"

"That is what we came here for." Mega pointed at some missing segments of the catwalk that they would have no choice but to hurdle. "Just watch out. Fall in there, and even we'll be instant slag with a touch."

"No kidding." Bass winced as an unlucky roachbot tumbled from the ceiling to meet a fate exactly as Mega Man had described it. "Liquid metal bad, no touch. Got it."

"Smart boy." Mega began jumping on across, Bass and Treble following him a bit more hesitantly.

"Well, heck, look on the bright side." Bass suggested after a few moments. "At least nothing can ambush us out of there."

"Considering the way Wily's brain works, you have a good point." Mega agreed, reaching the far side and a pair of elevator doors. "You'd think there'd be a staircase option. Oh well."

"You don't think there'll be an ambush?" Bass followed him in after a hesitant moment. Once all three were aboard, the automated lift hummed to life. Aside from the fact that the roof was missing, it seemed fully operational.

"Oh, there'll be something. But we'll be able to handle it as long as we don't get careless." Mega assured him. "See, look." From above, Metools were slowly drifting downward, tiny helicopter propellers attached to their helmets and twin guns replacing their feet. As he and Bass began weaving through the screen of fire and returning their own, he continued speaking. "Wily hasn't tried for a sure-kill since the Third. The game isn't interesting unless it's fair. His logic is twisted, but he sticks to it, always."

"Whatever you say, man." Bass snorted derisively. "I just say the man's a screwball."

"You have a good point." Mega admitted, wincing as a stray bullet pegged his shoulder; the Metools didn't have good aim, but there were a _lot_ of them. "Shame Treble can't get in on this."

"You want to put money on that?" Bass grinned, cocking his head at the robotic wolf. Since the Mets had started firing, Treble had been looking at the walls. Now, he launched himself at one, then rebounded off to another, and again, gaining height each time. Soon, he was in the shaft above, ignoring the few hits he wasn't able to dodge. And then he was among the foe, tearing through them like a knife. Finishing with a backflip, he landed on his feet and howled triumphantly as the mangled remnants of the Mets fell like rain.

"Remind me never to irritate him." Mega Man commented as the doors opened with a ding. There, across the hall, was the metal shutter. The only thing lying between them and it was a massive vat-not of molten metal, but of scrap and junk, assorted machinery parts here to be disposed of. "All right, then. What's the problem here?"

"We _did_ just bring it up, you know." Bass gave him a pained look. "I'm not _that_ dumb. There's going to be something nasty lurking in that mess."

"Right." Mega started ahead. "I'll go first. Shoot it when it comes for me. Once I'm across, I'll do the same for you."

"Got it." Bass raised his Buster. As Mega crossed, he saw what looked like a submarine's periscope rise out of the corner of his eye. Seeing him, it lowered, and then with a shift in the scrap, a mechanical serpent lunged out, bear-trap jaws snapping. Before it could reach him, though, plasma from Bass brought it down. Several more threatened as well, and were disposed of similarly, before Mega reached the shutter.

"Thanks, Bass." The blue hero waved. "See yas." He walked through the shutter, ignoring the furious cursing following a moment of shocked silence. "Well, that'll keep him out of the way long enough to finish the job here." Forcing himself to ignore the moment of feeling bad, he continued on, into Junk Man's lair.

"Ooooooookay." Mega Man muttered to himself as he looked over Junk Man's room. "Junk pit covering the floor, I can handle. Junk pit covering the _ceiling_? That's just silly. And a waste of super glue."

"Ah, a joke. Humor. Ha ha ha." A dull, deep voice responded as the room began shaking. The scrap parts on the opposite side of the floor erupted violently as the villain du jour made his appearance, his entire body spinning like a drill and launching him into a six-foot vertical leap. Halting the spin at the apex, Junk Man landed firmly on his feet and extended his right arm towards Mega, ending in what looked like a magnetic clamp. "Welcome, Mega Man. I am Junk Man."

"I never would have guessed." Mega rolled his eyes.

"More humor." Junk Man remarked dourly. "Quite hilarious, I'm sure. Is this going to take all day?"

"Okay, I deserved that one." Mega made a face. "I complain about that myself when your friends play at being comedians. Now that the point's been taken, what say we get on with this?"

"Acceptable." Junk Man performed another vertical leap, clearing Mega's first shot with ease. This time, however, he braced himself in the air to put as much weight as possible behind his landing. The room shook again, and this time some of the ceiling's junkpile began to fall.

"Buddy, compared to the freeze spikes, this is nothing!" Mega Man quipped, firing another charged shot before taking an anvil to the head, which rebounded with a _clang _and put him flat on his back. "What the-how did _that_ get up there?"

"I put it there." Junk Man had his right arm extended again, and was now activating it, spinning the magnet and drawing in metallic slag from all over the room. By the time Mega Man regained his footing, a four-foot cube had accumulated. Roaring unintelligibly, Junk Man released the cube and slammed it with his free arm, sending it skidding across the room like a hockey puck. A quick hurdle avoided the cube, which slammed into the far wall, but when Mega Man looked again, Junk Man had vanished.

"Now where the heck did he go?" The Blue Bomber charged a shot idly while looking around the room, wary for a sneak attack. "Moves fast for a big guy..."

"Up here!" Junk Man emerged from the _ceiling_ this time, but instead of predictably trying to crush his opponent, he chose to slam down onto the cube of junk, scattering it.

"Wide open!" Mega shot back, ignoring the fact that he had wasted his charged shot firing straight up. Whirling, he pegged Junk Man with a hail of bullets, but to no effect; the flying junk was now orbiting its master in a barrier. "Oh... _oh_. You're a goddamn shield user."

"That is the nature of my primary weapon." Junk Man began jumping around the room in an attempt to crush his opponent, but with little success; this was a technique Mega Man was highly familiar with, and jumping and sliding around to dodge was second nature by now. "Hm. It seems this is ineffective."

"You're going to have to drop that shield sometime, buddy!" Mega commented, charging a shot while he waited. _Okay, I've had about enough of this. _One_ of the Master Weapons will have to work on this clod. I'll start trying after this shot_.

"True enough." Junk Man paused, turned and fired, launching the shield from his body. Again, this was familiar, and Mega Man easily jumped and returned a shot. However, while his blast was right on target, he was less successful in dodging the shield-instead of remaining spherical as he expected, it was now elongated like a tube, and thus he landed firmly on the tail end. Instantly, the entire thing bonded to his body, slamming him down to the ground and binding his movements. Chuckling dryly, Junk Man came down on him as well. The good news was, this removed the junk straitjacket; the bad news was, two tons of Robot Master _hurt_ to be used as a trampoline by.

"_Tchyo za galima!_" Mega Man dropped a russian curse he had learned from Dr. Cossack. _That _does _it. This guy's taking me apart like my name's Glass Joe. Time to up my game_. Bringing his Buster up, he unloaded his newest weapons, the Thunder Bolt. Simple but effective, a streak of electricity shot out into the enemy's chest and blew him back across the room. Junk Man's entire body actually glowed for a moment as he hit the wall, spread-eagled.

"I... what?" Junk Man muttered, dropping to the ground again. "What?"

"Well, that seems to have done the trick." Mega noted. "You're not properly shock-protected. Fatal flaw."

"What?" Junk Man yelled, face contorting in anger. Jumping across the room, he threw a piece of junk like a baseball in midleap. "What?"

"Brain's shorting out too, I see." Mega shocked him again, easily dodging the fastball.

"What?!" Now bellowing in anger, Junk Man jumped, threw junk, and was shocked again. Again, he repeated the same simple attack, screaming the only word he was still able to in mindless fury. "_What?!_"

"Game, set and match." Mega Man sighed, shocking him again and again until finally the tin-plated titan fell over and apart, like a jigsaw puzzle. "Dramatic death, considering he didn't talk much. Just goes to show, I guess."

"Oy. Asshole." A now-familiar voice came from behind him. "We need to talk."

"Bass." Mega sighed, slowly turning. "Look. It was for your own good-"

"_Bullshit!_" Bass' fist slammed into the hero's jaw, flooring him. Grinding his teeth, he stared down at Mega, eyes blazing. As always, Treble stood at his heels. "Just what the hell do you take me for, huh? Some incompetent shit who can't even follow directions? I stayed out of it against Burst Man and Freeze Man when you told me to. And what do I get? You don't even _ask_ any more, you just leave me in the dust! Gee, thanks, _buddy_. I really appreciate it."

"You screwed up with Cloud Man." Mega shot back, rolling to his feet. "You would have _died_ there, Bass. Because you thought you were hot enough to take the big boys down, even when I told you that wasn't the case."

"You think I don't know that?" Bass snarled. "Of course I know that! I owe you my goddamn life, and that's _why_ I'm so pissed about getting ditched!" His eyes lowered, and his voice dropped. "I don't want to be _useless_. I was created to fight. It's all I know. I have to help out, in any way I can. But the way it looks right now, I can only do that if you let me. So do that. I'll do what you tell me to, just don't treat me like I don't matter. I can't stand that."

"All right." Mega Man did his best to sound stern, not succeeding entirely. "Promise me you won't go running off like a trigger-happy lunatic ever again, and I won't pull that shit. You're right. Friends shouldn't do that to each other. I was out of line."

"Deal. I promise." Bass stuck out his hand, and Mega shook it firmly. "You've got a friend in me, hero."

"Good." Mega turned back to Junk Man's corpse and quickly located the Weapons Chip. "Now let's get out of here, rest and repair. This isn't over. Wily will be bringing out four more now, or my name's Milquetoast."

"I'll hold you to that. And more importantly, so will your birth certificate." Bass joked, waving. "All right. Catch you later." In flashes of black and purple, he and Treble were gone.

"Robots don't have birth certificates, you stooge." Mega muttered to himself, watching them go. "Dammit. So we're friends now, huh? No point in arguing it; I like the kid. Question isn't about liking him, though." Closing his eyes, he activated his own teleporter. "Question is, can I _trust_ him."

"Yo, dad." Bass saluted lazily as he and Treble walked into the Skull Fortress' command chamber. "Reporting in."

"Ah, there you are." Wily turned around. "I see that Junk Man has fallen as well."

"Like a freakin' Met on a E-Tank overdose." Bass smirked. "Dumb lug looked like he'd lost to a jigsaw. So much for your four heroes. Bust you out of max sec, and then die. Hell of a life."

"They served their purpose." Wily shrugged idly. "As do they all. More importantly, how goes your little game with Mega Man?"

"I'm taking it slow, so he doesn't get suspicious." Bass shrugged, flopping down on a keyboard and garbling the attached monitor. "Good news is, _he_ gave me an opportunity to make a nice little leap in logic today, so I got a step up. I figure it's almost time for me to meet his family... gonna want to do that at least once before the real show."

"I see." Wily's left eye twitched a bit at Bass' treatment of the computer, but he forced himself not to respond openly. "Well then, I think that can be arranged."

"Really?" Bass stared at the ceiling and raised a finger to begin counting tiles. "That'd be nice of you, dad. One thing, though. He knows there's gonna be four more. Saw it coming, and all that. Should have figured, I guess..." He paused, turning his head to look at the old man again. "There _are_ going to be four more, right?"

"No, I'm going to send out seven Metools with beards singing Disney songs." Wily said sarcastically, punching a button. "Of _course_ there are going to be four more. What did you think, that I was sleeping this entire time? They're all ready; we'll just wait a few hours to keep the suspense up, and then they can head out as well. You might as well meet them now, while everybody's here." Another door in the control chamber's side opened, and the aforementioned four Robot Masters walked out, one by one.

"DWN014, Turbo Man." Looking like some sort of racecar, the burly robot had exhaust pipes from its back and visored sunglasses. The lights in the room reflected off his metallic blue body as he posed. "Just stay out of my way."

"DWN015, Slash Man." Even shorter than most Robot Masters, this one made up for it with clawed gauntlets and a mane of bright orange spikes for hair over a jungle green paintjob. Baring pointed fangs in a snarl, he dropped to all fours. "I can't wait to start the hunt."

"DWN016, Spring Man!" Bouncing a bit with every step, the orange Robot Master had metal coils for legs, arms, waist and even head. After making sure his eyes were staying on, he stared at Bass. "Say, you're not a fish at all! _Or_ a guitar!"

"DWN017, Shade Man." Like Cloud Man, this Robot Master flew through the air; however, he did so not through a cloud, but through batlike wings attached to his back. Obviously, a similar antigravity device had to be used, but they _did_ match his look; purple and slim, with pointy ears and a pair of fangs. Landing, he bowed to Bass, and the other three followed suit. "We are all at your service as well as that of our master."

"Well, obvious to see who wears the pants in this group." Bass noted with a smirk that quickly faded. "Of course, there's always one too dumb to keep hierarchy in mind." Pulling a chunk of metal out of a computer in a fountain of sparks, he threw it at Turbo Man's head. "Quick tip, Speed Racer. Say that again and I'll take an arm off, and you won't like what I do with it next."

"If you're done wrecking the delicate machinery and making veiled threats regarding anatomy you don't actually _have_..." Wily rolled his eyes, pushing a few more buttons. "I believe you wished for a way to meet his family. Well, have I got a deal for you. You remember how they accompanied him into the field recently? I'd put my money on them doing so once more if given a repeat performance of the same."

"You're going to be attacking Tokyo _again_?" Bass laughed. "Nice one, dad! They'll never see that... one... coming?" His words slowed, then stopped as he saw the map being pulled up onto the main monitor. "Oh, man... _no way_."

"As Mister Wayne and Mister Garth would put it... way, my boy. Very way." Wily's grin was out in full force. "Little Mega Man thinks he sees it all coming, but he didn't see that my breakout was more than a statement. It was a warning. I'll go in myself, first... maybe _that'll_ tip him off. But that will be the last one he'll get. Afterwards, these four will join me... and unlike me, they _won't _be leaving Tokyo." All six robots in the room stared at the map of Tokyo, with four locations clearly marked on it. "This city I once called home has been spared the hammer of war for too long now. I'm not going to let it off with a slap on the wrist."

"Pay attention, guys." Bass instructed the Robot Masters. "This is why he's the boss. Because he's the _best._" The other four nodded in unison and awe, but Wily didn't notice, too caught up in his own ravings. Not that Bass cared either; he simply watched his madman father with reverence as the old man's face remained locked in place.

"This time, all of Tokyo will burn."


	9. Chapter 8: The Show Must Go On

_**Chapter 8: The Show Must Go On**_

"Good morning, Mega Man." Dr. Light greeted his son as the hero's eyes opened in the familiar lab. "I guessed you would be waking up soon, so I asked Rush to divert Roll by assaulting the curtains. He owed me one. She's chasing him down the street right now."

"I owe both of you for that, then. Thanks." Mega nodded, gratified. "With luck, that'll keep her focused long enough to forget her anger towards me fully."

"Perhaps." Dr. Light chuckled. "You never really know with her."

"That's probably really for the best. Women." Mega rolled his eyes. "Well then, now that the obligatory male chauvinism father-son bonding's out of the way... any news from the front lines since I conked out?"

"Nothing yet." Dr. Light's smile dropped. "I'm sure we haven't missed anything; we've been taking turns watching the news stations at all times. Auto's on right now. At the moment, Wily seems to be biding his time."

"Probably just giving me a fair amount of time to get ready for the next wave." Mega guessed gloomily. "And to enjoy the UN's frenzy over which of them's going to get hit next. Having to wait for half of the enemy is probably driving them up the wall. I wouldn't put it past Wily to have planned this one this way just for that."

"There don't seem to be any limits as to his madness, and what it might drive him to." Dr. Light agreed. "When I saw him in prison, there was nothing left of the man I knew. Not even the slightest trace. He's gone."

"He's been like that since the beginning." Mega shook his head. "It just took a long time for us to fully come to terms with that."

"Perhaps." Dr. Light muttered, fiddling with a few tools. Producing his pipe, he lit it up and began puffing.

"Hey, dad." Mega moved off of the workbench and walked over to take a seat next to his father. "What do you think of Bass?"

"Bass..." The elderly doctor stroked his beard, glad of the change in subject. "Well, from what you've told me of him, his actions certainly don't seem to indicate a threat."

"That alone is hardly enough to warrant absolute trust." Mega said with a frown.

"Very true." Dr. Light admitted. "But that's not all of it, correct? He believed he was saving your life with Freeze Man, although I personally think you would have won that one anyways. And when you came back after Junk Man, you seemed quite impressed by his emotional capacity when you ditched him."

"Do you have to put it that way?" Mega winced ruefully. "You've got a point, though. And then there's that Super Armor. Is that done, by the way?"

"Ah, yes!" Dr. Light perked up. "That reminds me! Yes, the installation worked perfectly into both you and Rush. The new armor should indeed combine the features of the Jet Armor and Power Armor-in fact, the fists on this are actually rockets! It's quite ingenious; we do owe Misters Bass and Treble for that." He puffed on his pipe happily. "And before you ask, yes, I made sure to check the design for bugs, glitches, bombs, and any other assorted shenanigans. Your old man isn't anybody's fool, either."

"Never claimed you were. Should be fun testing that out." Mega stretched his arms out behind his head. "Everything points towards Bass being on the level, then..."

"The most important thing to consider isn't logic, or supporting evidence." Dr. Light pointed out. "It's your own feelings, and instincts. Just think about it honestly. Think about Bass. What do your instincts tell you?"

"When you put it like that..." The Blue Bomber closed his eyes. "I _want_ to believe in Bass. To have him as a friend. I like him. He's a good kid. I want to believe that."

"Then do so." Dr. Light said simply. "Trust your heart. It's gotten you through more than any intelligent being on this planet today."

"All right. I'll do that, then." Mega Man smiled, removing his helmet for the first time since the Rebellion's inception. "Thanks, dad. You can be pretty cool sometimes, you know?"

"Of course!" Dr. Light tousled his son's hair, then flexed a bicep and laughed. "I'm Dr. Light, after all! Wa ha ha!"

"Aaaaaand sometimes, I see where Auto gets it from." Mega shook his head and sighed. "Don't do that. It worries me."

"I heard that!" Auto yelled from downstairs. "Why don't you come down here and say that, big bro? Hey hey, whoa! Scratch that, just come down here! Looks like we've finally got some action here, folks!"

"It never fails." Placing his helmet back on, Mega Man ran out of the room and vaulted over the staircase's rail to land in the living room below, while Dr. Light descended at a more sedate pace. Auto was seated firmly on the couch, and Roll had just walked in with Rush in tow; both their eyes were fixed firmly on the television.

"_Only a few members of the staff and visitors managed to escape alive._" The news anchor was saying with only a slight tremor in his voice. "_Of the rest, no sign has been seen, and accounts from the escapees indicate that they have been massacred in the style typical to Dr. Wily's atrocities._" The screen behind him was displaying a facility all too familiar to the Lights. The Mr. X Robot Museum, which they had visited only moments before the Rebellion had began. Now, it seemed, that same facility had been drawn into the chaos.

"Just this place? Damn... he's sticking an intermission in. Should have thought of that; he did it before, in the Fifth." Mega frowned at the screen. "Did you manage to see how many robots he brought in?"

"That's the thing, bro." Auto growled. "There weren't any. From what the survivors said, Wily just flew in there personally on his flying saucer and started wreaking havoc. Wasn't much the security could do against that thing if he kept the lid down."

"That's not right at all." Roll said with a scowl. "Doesn't fit his usual style, to do his dirty work himself instead of sending out the robots. He's up to something."

"Definitely." Mega smacked a fist into the palm of his other hand. "And whatever it is, if I don't get there fast, Bass is going to stroll right into it. I need to check that place out first, before he gets himself into trouble."

"He's cool, then?" Roll raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." After only a moment more of hesitation, Mega Man nodded firmly. "He's cool. He's not the only important one, though; I don't trust this. Just because the army didn't come in with Wily doesn't mean it won't be trailing behind him. I'll teleport; the rest of you, bring the truck in case there's another rampage and evacuation's needed again."

"Got it." Auto gave the thumbs-up.

"Rush, go with him." Dr. Light commanded. "This seems like a good chance to try out that Super Armor." The robotic canine barked an affirmation.

"All right. Let's get going, then." Mega vanished in a streak of light, with Rush by his side. Red and blue, they flew through the roof and were gone.

As Mega Man and Rush arrived at the Robot Museum, there was still no visible sign of robot armies joining their master; the building was grim and silent, but there was no visible damage aside from the ruined front doors, no obvious casualties. Not that anybody could tell that from the behavior of the humans in the surrounding area. Just as frenzied as always, they were exploding in a mad riot of terror, desperately trying to escape and nearly trampling each other in the process of doing so. And in the backmost depths of every one of their minds, the same base thought lurked-_Please, don't let him get __me!_ Every mind except one, that was. And that one was here to do his job.

"Time to confirm my existence again." Mega Man muttered to himself bleakly, all traces of humor gone now. Entering through the ruined front door, he proceeded to follow the trail of destruction, quickly reaching the most famous exhibit-the Hall of the Robot Masters. Deactivated copies of every Robot Master type ever made lined both sides of the great hall, flanking the visitors from inside glasteel shells as they walked down the hall. To Mega Man, they were the ghosts of past enemies, still watching him silently as he continued to add more to their number. Snake Man, Heat Man, Pharaoh Man, Flame Man... and, of course, the only one who was a wax statue instead of an actual robotic replica. As he always did when visiting this hall, Mega Man paused for a moment to standd before the image of Doc Man, still grinning as madly as ever.

"Did you find your peace, somewhere?" Mega wondered. "Did you find the end to your tormented life?" Staring back blankly, the wax dummy held no answers for him, and after a moment more the Blue Bomber turned away and continued on. A second Robot Master soon caught his attention, or rather, a lack of one; the container was smashed and ruined, its contents disappeared. Scanning the plate at its base quickly revealed its identity; one of Lighttech's models, the earliest Robot Masters, used in the First Robot Rebellion. The hulking Guts Man. "Well, that's just not good at all, in any way, shape or form." Mega commented, running down the hall once more. "Is that what Wily came here for? But then, why would he need a Guts Man?" The hero continued through another ruined door, and then another... and then one more, and he was once more face-to-face with the madman who had scarred the world.

"Approximate response time, five minutes and twenty-nine seconds." Dr. Wily informed his eternal enemy without looking up from the stopwatch he held as the Blue Bomber rushed into the room. It was only when the device had been put away in his pocket that the madman turned his head to regard Mega Man. Still in that iconic blue-and-yellow flying saucer, Wily hovered six feet off the ground in place, patiently looking down upon the hero who had stopped him again and again. Still giving him the same, intense gaze when their eyes met. Now that they were there for more than a moment, both had their entire history flash before their eyes-the early days, the good times, when they were Uncle Al and young Rock, and the ten years of violence and mayhem that had shattered those times forever. The moment itself was broken when Wily's lips peeled back, grinning.

"Wily. This is a new trick." Mega Man spoke, fighting with all his will to keep his words bland, emotionless, detached. "Normally once you get your Rebellion going, you don't set foot out of one fortress or another until I kick you out." For the first time since entering the room, he broke visual contact with his nemesis to look instead upon the Guts Man, firmly clamped in the metallic claw crane on the bottom of the flying saucer. "Was this guy really worth breaking the formula for? I never thought you'd place that much importance on a _robot_."

"What, punchy here? Oh, no no no. He was just the first one that caught my eye when I decided to take a souvenir back on the spur of the moment." Wily explained, raising a hand to tweak his mustache absently. "No, the _reason_ I came here is for something much, much more. I came here to give you a warning, Mega Man. Consider it a sort of thank-you for playing my little games for all these years. I really _do_ appreciate it so, so much."

"You're too kind." Mega drawled. "All right, I'll bite. What is this warning, then?"

"Oh, come on." Wily's voice dropped to a rasping hiss. "You should be able to figure it out by _now_."

"That would require me being able to replicate your twisted thought processes." The Blue Bomber retorted. All the same, he began thinking feverishly. _All right, what's he doing here that he thinks is sending a message? Attacking the Robot Museum? No... attacking Tokyo. Twice now, in rapid succession. So is there going to be another, once the next four are done? Or maybe... oh, crap._ Spitting out a vile German oath, Mega attempted to shoot down the sauce, but another claw extended whip-fast to take the shot, breaking off but leaving the main craft undamaged. "Damn you... you're sending the robots here, aren't you? All four of them are coming here, to Tokyo."

"Ding ding ding! Congratulations, you've won first prize!" Dr. Wily laughed uproariously, clapping with his feet inside the saucer. "And what do we have for him today, Johnny? A championship fight with our special guest!"

"As if I had time for that." Mega Man snorted, spinning on his heel only to discover a metal security gate had dropped behind him. "Oh, damn and double damn."

"Come on, boy. As if I'd just let you say _no_ that easily." Wily echoed his enemy for derision perfectly. "Can't have this being _boring_, after all. No, if you want to get out of here and warn the civilians of the city, you're going to have to work for that. Depending on how you do here, I might even give them a head start, so try your best, hmmm?"

"You're not going anywhere either, then!" Mega snarled, but Wily was already closing the saucer's hatch above him.

"On the contrary, the sky's the limit for me!" A speaker carried the maniac's voice as the ship popped out an arm bearing a plasma cannon, which promptly punched a hole through the ceiling. "Mister Clown, come on down!" Soaring through, the devil's machine was gone, still bearing the inert Guts Man along for the ride.

"Damn him..." Mega Man forced himself to resist his initial impulse to climb out after him. That restraint proved wise, as only a few moments later, Wily's thug plummeted through from the roof above. Visually unimpressive at first glance, it was mainly constructed of spheres; a single massive one for the torso, and arms and legs made of smaller chains. Only the head was different, but that head took the bright red and blue color scheme to the natural conclusion-it was a _clown_, and as it landed, the impact caused the head to spin around insanely before its raised its arms to hold the cranium still. Watching this, Mega Man fought the urge to slap his face. "I'd ask if this was some sort of a joke, but that would be redundant at this point."

"Grr..." The robot growled unintelligibly, staring at him. Though it was humanoid, this was not a Robot Master; its eyes held no spark of intelligence, and no words came forth from the mouth. Instead, it simply launched itself into the air, head and body spinning in opposite directions. Watching it go, Mega Man simply slid under, then nodded to Rush.

"Time to try our new trick out, boy!"

"Arf!" Jumping up, Rush's entire body folded in on itself, shifting and sliding until it no longer resembled a dog after only a few seconds. Now, the robot dog had become a piece of armor that slid over his master's head and secured itself around his chest, shoulder guards clamping on as jets and fins extended from the back and armored gauntlets slid over his hands. As a final touch, the rest of his armor changed colors to match Rush. The entire process had taken less time than the enemy robot had needed to reorient its head again. Now it was jumping again, and Mega ran out from under, barely making it.

"Shouldn't be able to slide in this, still..." He muttered, charging. "All right then... punch-out!" Turning, he whipped his fist out and released the energy, expecting a blazing right hook. Instead, the entire gauntlet detached and flew out on a jet booster, slamming into the enemy's face like a missile before boomeranging back and attaching to him again on autopilot. The blow was so great that the robot's head actually flew off. Eyes wide, Mega stared at his new rocket fist and whimpered slightly. "I didn't know it would do that! _Whoa!_" Reacting just in time, he dived headlong away as the robot's body made another attempt to crush him. "Okay, so the head coming off wasn't just me being buff?" As if in confirmation, the hero saw the severed head bouncing towards him quickly. Yelping, he scrambled back to his feet and jumped, activating the armor's other function-a short jet booster that propelled him into the air. It could only work for a few seconds at a time, but it was enough to avoid the flying head. Turning and launching another punch at it from behind, Mega scrambled away from the body again and smiled grimly.

"Bit of a surprise, but I think I've got this now. If this is all it can do, I just have to dodge and take down the head." The hero guessed, ducking under another of his target's bounces. That proved correct; the enemy failed to use any more attacks, simply repeating its simple motions, until the denting of the head by the rocket punches finally wore it down and it ceased to move, lying still and scrapped. Instantly, the body shut down as well, collapsing forward, and Mega Man nodded firmly. "Thought so. Useless without the control." Jumping onto the corpse, he was then able to jetpack up through the hole in the roof to the floor above. "Right, now to get out of here. The family should be out there by now. I just hope I'm not too late..."

"Man, what's taking them?" Bass muttered from the side of the Robot Museum where he was leaning, Treble at his feet. "Too much longer, and he'll have dusted up that clown before they arrive. Just won't be the same if that happens." Shaking his head, he peeked around the corner for what seemed like the fiftieth time. This look, however, spelled success. "Yes! Here they come! Doc Light, Roll and Auto... and... and... what the _hell_ are they driving?" Treble just snorted, and after a moment the Robot Master nodded. "Right. Doesn't matter. Flagrant violations to my sense of automotive aesthetics are unimportant. Let's just wait a few minutes..." Hanging back, he watched the Light family disembark.

"I'm surprised you didn't comment on that close shave with the mailman, Roll." Auto sounded surprised, but pleased. "Thanks."

"I was too busy staring in shock and horror at what was left of that lawn." Roll explained with a theatrical shudder. "We're probably going to get billed for that, you know."

"I can afford it." Dr. Light assured her. "One nice thing about having a genius for a father. Royalties."

"Looks calm enough out here." The robot girl dispensed with the chatter. "Still no robots, and no explosions we can hear. But then, Mega isn't out here waiting for us either. Question is, do we go in?"

"I say yes." Auto pumped his fist. "With both barrels. Dad's royalties can cover any repairs for this place too."

"I'd rather not, and not because of that." Dr. Light winced. "I doubt Trent would bill me anyways. But more importantly, Mega asked us to prioritize on keeping the civilians safe. We should work on that out here."

"Hmm." Roll put a finger under her chin, thinking. "Well, if we need another vote, we could always ask that guy spying on us around the side of the building. Hey, you!"

"Oh, man. _Busted._" Bass groaned, before running around, chuckling ruefully. "You guys have got to be the Lights. Sorry about that; just waiting for the right moment to make a dramatic entrance and all."

"Hey, no harm no foul. I get that a lot myself." Auto grinned back. "That's us, all right. And you're that Bass guy, I'm guessing. Which makes that Treble."

"Unless somebody's switched our names when we weren't looking, you're right on." Bass said with a smile. "Let's see here... Roll, Auto, aaaaand... Doctor, right?"

"I can honestly say I've never gotten that one before." Dr. Light deadpanned as his children cracked up. "Doctor is a honorific, young man. My given name is Thomas."

"Whoops." Bass slapped his forehead. "This is what I get for not spending more time around people."

"It's okay, none of started out at top operational capacity either." Roll shrugged. "So, you've been helping my brother out on his wild adventures, huh? I suppose that means we owe you some thanks."

"Might want to save that for when I actually do something useful." Bass suggested with a self-deprecating shrug. "So far I've mainly just gotten in the way."

"Hey, at least you go out in the field." Roll retorted. "I just sit around at home and conform to a gender stereotype. Get back to me on being useful for _that_."

"Ouch." Bass scratched the back of his head. "Not touching that one."

"Good call." Auto and Dr. Light echoed each other.

"Wiseasses." Roll shook her head. "Anyways, Bass. I assume you've checked the place out already?"

"Yeah. Arrived just as Doc Wily was hauling out of here. Had a Guts Man in tow." Bass explained. There was no point in not telling that much; news copters would have caught it easily. "Mega Man's tearing the only robot Wily left behind in half right now. I didn't want to interfere, so I just focused on scoping the rest of this place out. It's clean. Mega should be coming out any moment now."

"Just one robot? Not a Robot Master, even?" Roll frowned. "Probably a spare Fortress Guardian he didn't want any more or something, then. He doesn't have a second-in-command this go-around."

"That's a _good_ thing, the way I see it." Bass shrugged again. "But then again, I'm the new guy, what do I know."

"Can't be much newer than me, and I agree with you." Auto clapped him on the shoulder. "I like you, pal. Any time you want to stop by Big Eddie's, you get the discount on any purchase."

"Hey, thanks, big guy." Bass grinned again, suppressing his shudder as he remembered seeing "Big Eddie's" in action. _Well, now I know who defiled that truck. Better feign ignorance though_. "Uh, one question, though. What's 'Big Eddie's'?"

"You don't want to know." Roll assured him. "Okay, cool. Here comes bro."

"Bass, you're here too? Great. We need to move fast." Mega Man jetted off the roof and landed in front of his family and friends. "Wily spilled the beans to me. All four of the other Robot Masters and their armies will be hitting four different spots in Tokyo. They're probably already on their way."

"Dad, get Vinkus on the phone." Roll snapped, all business in an instant. "Auto, you know the roads. Find a good place for people to meet up."

"Already on it." Dr. Light was pulling his cellular phone out and dialing a number.

"Tell 'em I'll be at Eleventh and Mercy." Auto decided, starting up the car. "In front of the Brigand."

"What about us?" Bass asked. He was facing Mega Man, but it was Roll who answered.

"The three of us-five counting Treble and Rush-get to spread out, find people and warn them what's happening. Tell those with large vehicles to give stragglers a ride out of town. If they look like they're not keen on the whole helping their fellow man thing, intimidate 'em; most people don't know just how ironclad the First Law is, and you should be able to pull off looking scary if you try hard enough."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Bass decided, looking serious as well despite the humor in his voice. "If all else fails, I'll tell 'em Treble'll eat their tires."

"Ooh, good idea. I'll do that too-people in my neighborhood _know_ Rush can by now." Mega disengaged his armor back into canine form and turned away. "All right, we're off."

"You do the same." Roll told Bass, racing off in a different direction. "Chit-chat later. Saving lives now."

"I've got the First Law too, you know." Bass yelled, running away with Treble in a third path. "I'm on it." _Heh... and I'm not even lying. I just didn't say _whose_ First Law I had._ Looking ahead at the path, he considered just warping away once clear from vision, but shook his head. _Too much risk. Nah, I'll play along for a while, even if it means saving lives instead of fragging them. It'll be worth it to get in good with the Lights._ He thought back to the plans he had made with his father before arriving. _Should be half an hour more before the boys arrive. I'll just concentrate on the areas of the city that are far away from the targets anyways. And then comes Round 2, before the grand finale._ Thinking back to the Light family, he chuckled a bit more at how they had taken to him. _I guess I really do play the nice guy well. Or at least the cool guy. They're not so bad themselves, for heroes. Shame about the whole __thing, really, but it can't be helped._ Glancing up at the sky, where he had seen his father soar away moment before, Bass shook off the thoughts, only sparing a moment more before forcing himself entirely back into character.

_Somehow, I doubt Roll's going to be too happy to see me when I give her brother's head to her, even if I add a pretty red ribbon._


	10. Chapter 9: Oingo Boingo

_**Chapter 9: Oingo Boingo**_

Of the world's ancient structures, many had been destroyed in the Third World War, and more still in the chaos following it. Today, only a few buildings still stood that had been around for more than a century or two. One of those artifacts of architecture stood alone out in the wilderness of Russia, with nothing for miles but wilderness and the patrolling robots that surrounded it twenty-four seven. The hereditary home of the Cossack family, currently occupied by Doctor Sergei Cossack and his daughter Kalinka, as well as eight Robot Masters. Along with one recurring guest in particular.

"I have _got_ to talk with the Doc about getting blinds put on this window." Blues groused as the sunrise blazed into his eyes, uncovered only while he dozed in stasis. Sitting up, the eldest son of Light threw on his clothes and replaced the shades, tying off his scarf as a last touch. The guest room he had slept in was by now unofficially "his" permanently, as he made a habit of stopping by for a visit every few months. It was a second home to him by now, and the people who lived there close friends. One of whom made her presence apparent as soon as Blues walked out of the room.

"Good morning, Blues!" Kalinka Cossack, thirteen years old and starting to mature already, was waiting for him with a smile, drinking from a mug as she sat in a hall chair. Dr. Cossack's only daughter, she no longer showed any signs of the nearly fatal conditions she had been kept in five years prior, and was for all apparent purposes a perfectly normal and healthy young woman, blond curls hanging over the identical scarf Blues had given her on one of his visits. Only her eyes, ice blue like her father's, still occasionally showed the horrors that had shattered her childhood. When she looked at Blues, though, there was only happiness in her eyes; he had been the one to rescue her from Wily, and save her father's life as well.

"Oh, morning Kalinka." Blues scratched the back of his head. "Don't tell me you were just sitting out there waiting for me to wake up." Although he enjoyed Kalinka's friendship, Blues worried that she insisted on seeing it as more than that, which would of course be a total impossibility. Every time he decided to bring the subject up with her to settle it permanently, though, something always happened to make him reluctant, and wait until "next time."

"There's not much else to do around here." Kalinka protested mildly, waving a book. "I had this, so here's a good a place as any to read. Why shouldn't I wait for you?"

"I guess I can't really answer that one." Blues admitted. "I give up. You win. Your dad up yet too?"

"_Da_." Kalinka nodded. "He's still an early riser. The robots and me all tell him he should get more sleep, but he never listens. You should help us and tell him too, Blues."

"Oh no, not me." Blues said, raising his hands. "You can get away with that, since you're family. Me, I'm not commenting on the behavior of anybody who can call themselves 'Master of the castle' and mean it literally."

"Such behavior would indeed be analogous to maintaining health, generally." A flat, emotionless voice heralded the arrival of Pharaoh Man, the most prominent of Cossack's eight Robot Masters and the one most commonly assigned to be Kalinka's bodyguard. Though the scientist's daughter fumed over her constant surveillance, Cossack was still highly paranoid over her safety, with good reason-even five years later. Wily never forgot. "At least, such is the conclusion I draw from the doctor's response to an unusually determined door-to-door salesman one day."

"Oh yes, that idiot." Kalinka covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled. "I still can't believe he came all the way out here. Father offered him a much faster way back to Moscow when he answered the door, though."

"Let me guess." Blues cracked a smile of his own. "A catapult."

"Exactly." Kalinka said happily. "For some reason, though, he declined the offer. Just for that, we didn't buy anything. Showed _him_."

"You will notice the mistress' sense of humor continues to deteriorate." Pharaoh Man told Blues without changing his expression one bit. "It would be impolite to assign the blame for such onto extended interaction with your family, but I have yet to calculate a more likely theory, so I can only request you excuse my rudeness."

"I'll take the blame for that one." Blues admitted easily, starting down the hall. "Some things rub off, I guess. Hate to kill the mood, but priorities first. Any news on the Rebellion?"

"Not when I had awakened." Kalinka closed her book and rose to follow him, along with the other Robot Master. "Pharaoh?"

"Unfortunately, that has changed in the intervening time." Pharaoh Man explained. "Ring Man was monitoring the news channels, and saw the broadcast in Japan. I came here to inform you that Doctor Wily has returned to Tokyo and attacked it once more."

"Damn." Blues snapped, picking up the pace. "He's changing things up. He _never_ hits the same place more than once in the same Rebellion. Until now, anyways. Is he out of there now, at least? And how about the other four Robot Masters? Did they show up yet?"

"That was the reasoning behind the alert." The other Robot Master said. "Following a personal appearance by Doctor Wily, four Robot Masters descended upon separate areas of the city, each with an accompanying army."

"_Pizdets..._" Kalinka whispered, racing to keep up with Blues. "How many people..."

"Hey, hey. If your dad catches you using that kind of language, he'll probably blame me, and none of us want that." Blues admonished her lightly. "Anyways, my family were there. They must have helped out. Right, Pharaoh?"

"Correct. The Light family were instrumental in evacuating survivors, as was the newcomer, Bass." Pharaoh Man continued to explain. "Casualties are estimated to have been reduced by thirty-five percent due to their efforts, both personally and in contacting Councilor Vinkus, who issued a public evacuation order half an hour before the robots arrived."

"You don't say. I'll have to remember to send ol' Darwin a nice fruit basket for that one. Nice scramble." Blues' grim features belied his admiring tones, but he made sure to keep that fact hidden from Kalinka. "Any of them near my house?"

"Spring Man has invaded the Tokyo Central Shopping Mall." Pharaoh Man reported dutifully. "Your neighborhood was not within his initial radius of robot deployment, but given time his expansion will likely cover it. Thus, it is my hypothesis that Mega Man will most likely decide upon that individual as his first target."

"Bro does tend to be a bit predictable like that." Proto Man admitted. "Still, that's better than _sleeping through_ this sort of thing. Dammitall."

"It's not your fault." Kalinka quickly spoke up for him. "You're still mortal, Blues. You have to go into stasis sometime. There's no way you could have known this was going to happen, so don't beat yourself up."

"Thanks, Kalinka." Blues smiled. "As long as you keep saying that, I can't get too down. All the same, though, it's time I got back to work." Finally reaching his destination, he opened the door into the hangar bay, where the good Doctor kept his flying vehicles-in addition to providing space for his favorite guest's personal ride. The Melee Moth Blues had stolen from Dr. Wily was waiting for him as always, ready to fly once more. "Tell the doc I'm sorry I had to rush off without saying good morning, but he'll understand once he hears the news about Tokyo. If he gets _too_ angry about that, tell him at least it wasn't anywhere near here; that's a low blow, I know, but it'll get him to calm down." Jumping onto the Moth's wings, Blues climbed over to the center of the robot's back and directed it to lift up and away. "Keep doing your job, Pharaoh. Stay safe, Kalinka... I'll take you for a ride again once this is all over with."

"You be careful too, Blues." Kalinka called after him, as the red-and-grey-armored Robot Master soared away into the sunrise, and was gone.

A blue bolt fell from the sky over the Tokyo Central Shopping Mall, resolving into humanoid form as it brushed off the edge of the barrier, onto a third-story catwalk. Looking around the bright pink-and-purple paint job covering the facility, Mega Man shuddered; he had always resisted accompanying Roll here even prior to the invasion, and not because she was an inefficient shopper. The mall complex, an entirely indoor maze, had a design scheme like a children's toy store on a variety of illegal drugs. That, combined with the fact that the residing Robot Master was designed out of _springs_, was giving Mega Man a decidedly uneasy feeling.

"If this turns out to be another Top Man, I'm retiring." He threatened himself half-heartedly as he began blowing away robots. The fact that many of them were spring-based as well didn't help matters. One look out a plate glass window, however, did wonders for his resolve. The towering office building visible there loomed as silent as ever, showing no traces of the havoc and war that had taken place nearby. But it was still there, regardless, and it was his job to sort that out. Sighing, he glanced at a convenient map of the facility. "Chances are, boss man will be near the center of the shield's radius. So that would be..." Another sigh. "Of course. Where all the toy stores are concentrated. Right off the main plaza, so I should head... this way." Turning into the hall that would lead him towards his goal, the Blue Bomber cursed in surprise as he was suddenly launched into motion. The entire floor had been completely removed, and in its place, a forest of springboards had been installed. Stepping onto them, Mega Man had launched himself down the hall, and now could not halt his own inertia. To make matters worse, the hall turned to the right up ahead.

"Oh, this is so going to suck..." Groaning, Mega braced himself for impact with the far wall and collided with a metallic crunch. "Ow... I knew it." Sliding off, he took a step to the right and set off again, only to see enemies ahead. "I hate this place!" Some were cleared with plasma shots before he arrived, but not all, and Mega's collection of bruises grew, as did his temper. The last straw was when he made another turn to discover that the _ceiling_ was springboarded as well, spinning him completely out of control. Bringing up the Junk Shield, he activated it and sulked quietly as he bounced along, anything in his path being smashed to pieces by the orbiting slag summoned around him. At the least, this caused the unpleasant surprises to cease. Until he reached a hall with an open ceiling, anyways, and heard a familiar voice approaching quickly from above.

"Oh, man, I recognize that! Look out!" Bass' voice heralded the black-armored Robot Master's arrival at similar velocity to Mega Man's, bouncing unceremoniously off of the Junk Shield and then continuing along beside him. Growling and snarling from behind indicated that Treble had bought a ticket for the ride as well and was similarly regretting it. "Damn, that _hurt!_ Does this kind of shit happen often?"

"What, you mean a warped sense of redecorating disabling our control of inertia and forcing us to scramble helplessly as we're flung through the enemy stronghold?" Mega Man replied dryly. "Oh yeah, this kind of shit happens all the time. Just part of the job, I'm afraid. At least once per Rebellion, there'll be at least one Robot Master who'll pull some crazy crap that'd piss off a saint. And they're all _dead._ Nothing to do but deal with it, and make sure the guy behind it pays when we catch up to him in the end."

"That, I can testify to." Bass swore ominously, wincing as a flying 'bot rebounded off his cranium. "Ow, again! At least we're almost to the main plaza, if my sense of direction hasn't been _completely_ fried by all this. He can't have springboarded _that_ out, can he?"

"You just _had_ to say it, didn't you." Mega groaned, slapping himself. "Remind me to tell you about Murphy's Law when we have the time. Here it comes." Flying out of the tunnel like a trio of missiles, the three robots fell into the plaza, a vast open expanse with five floors of catwalks, each and every one of which had been springboarded just as efficiently as the tunnels. Using walls to halt their forward inertia, Mega Man and Bass began scanning the rows of shops surrounding them on every side. None of them held a trace of a metal shutter.

"Let me guess. We'll have to do this the hard way." Bass groaned. "Look through each and every one of these for the perp."

"You're learning." Mega complimented him as he moved towards a tool shop. "You hit the ones on the other side." Kicking the door in, he wiped out a lurking robot without even looking, and checked the back rooms as well, with no luck. Sighing, he moved on, continuing for several more establishments until he came to a robotic parts supply outlet. This, unlike other stores, had been completely ravaged, half of its contents incorporated into the army. Idly examining the remaining stock, Mega's eyes fell upon a crate with a Cuban stamp on it. "I wonder..." Opening it up, he smiled; the crate was full of specially modified Bolts. "Auto's going to be glad to see these, I'll bet. I'll have to remember to drag this thing outside when I'm done here and tell him to come pick it up."

"Hey! I think I've got something!" Bass' voice called from an upper level. Running outside, Mega looked up to the fifth floor, where his ally was emerging from a toy store. "Yeah, this is it, all right! Metal shutter and everything!"

"I can't believe I didn't think of checking that first." Mega groaned as he began bouncing his way up to meet Bass. "I _must_ be getting old after all."

"Good thing I'm in training camp, then." Bass noted. "When you turn gray and need a wheelchair, I'll be ready to take over."

"You're about as funny as a toilet in reverse." The Blue Bomber growled, reaching the toy store. "All right, in we go-the hell?" As soon as he walked in, his gaze was transfixed by an entire shelf full of deactivated Metools, painted blue and pink. The blue ones had red bands around their helmets, and the pink ones were topped with bows. "This is just _wrong._ And a flagrant violation of Lighttech's copyright on Mets, too. Wait until Auto hears about this one. He'll blow a circuit."

"Your home city's being ravaged by murderous robots, and you're worried about copyrights. Yeah, I came along just in time." Bass snorted, leading the way towards the metal shutter in the back. "Look at it this way. At least Spring Man didn't reprogram _those_ to try and kill us. Looks like he's got _some_ standards."

"That is true." Mega admitted, walking through. "Doesn't mean he's getting off easy, though. Hey, Slinky! Enough playing around, huh?"

"Oh, I wouldn't go _that_ far." A jovial voice preceded the arrival of Spring Man from a hatch in the roof. Bouncing a good ten feet into the air with every step, he bounded back and forth, waving cheekily. "We'll just be playing _rough_, is all. I'm sure you know how to do that by now."

"You could say that." Mega replied dryly. "Same as usual, Bass."

"Yeah, yeah." Bass leaned against a wall casually, arms folded behind his head, and glanced at the confused Spring Man. "Just ignore me."

"Sure!" Shaking it off with a wobbling head, Spring Man turned back to Mega. "Let's have some fun, then!" At the height of his next jump, he suddenly launched said head into the ceiling, anchoring himself and causing Mega's first shot to miss.

"_That's_ a new one." The Blue Bomber commented, adjusting his aim. "Makes you a sitting duck, though."

"This is the best defense!" Twisting his body, Spring Man began spinning wildly, then threw out a fist. Extending over the entire span of the room, it swept across and slammed into Mega's side, sending him flying.

"A good offense. I get it." Mega scrambled up just in time to be hit again by the second fist. "Dammit."

"Wheeee!" Fortunately, the spinning had loosened Spring Man's head to the point that he fell down after two punches.

"Gotcha now." Switching weapons, Mega tossed off a Danger Wrap.  
"Ooooh! Bubbles!" Smirking, Spring Man simply extended his extremities, easily stretching the chemical past its breaking point. As he fell, however, Mega easily nailed him with a charged shot, preventing him from dodging the explosive. Frowning, the bouncy Robot Master braced himself on the floor, holding still for once, and threw both arms straight out. "You're not the only one with cool weapons, you know!" Matter generators in his palms activated, forming a pair of springs with spiked caps on both ends. Inertia caused them to bounce around wildly as Spring Man himself began jumping again. "Dodge these _and_ me, tough guy! I dare ya!"

"Sucker bet. No thanks." Mega threw up the Junk Shield instead and watched the springs get ground up by the rotating debris.

"No fair!" Unfortunately, Spring Man himself was less affected; landing next to Mega, he slammed both arms through the barrier with a slight wince and wrapped them around the hero like a straitjacket. Bounding straight up, he slammed both himself and Mega into the ceiling, then back down into the floor with even more force. "They call this a piledriver, you know. I've never known why. There aren't any piles involved, are there?"

"I hate this type." Muttering more to himself than anybody else, Mega pried himself out and blasted Spring Man again.

"Fine! Don't answer!" Harrumphing, Spring Man jumped up and anchored his head in the ceiling again.

"If you insist." This time, however, a couple of quick slides on Mega's part allowed him to slip under the punches. A test of the Freeze Cracker proved only slightly effective, but the enemy's stationary position allowed for more plasma shots to hit home as well. Swapping out for the last weapons currently in his possession, Mega tried the Thunder Bolt as Spring Man dropped once again.

"Wow!" Absorbing the electricity, Spring Man's body began glowing, and all three other Robots suddenly found themselves being pulled towards him. "Cool!"

"Way to go, tough guy!" Bass barked, with Treble snarling in agreement. "Three weapons don't do shit, and the last one makes him into a _magnet!_"

"Everybody's a critic!" Mega yelled back, going with the momentum instead of against it like them. Rushing past the arms extended to grab him again, he threw subtlety to the wind and decked Spring Man with a right hook, releasing the charged shot into his enemy's face right afterwards.

"You just don't quit!" Howling, Spring Man tried to rise again, but fell pitifully short, arms and legs bending uselessly and flopping around. "Huh? What's happening? Why can't I move?"

"Your body's giving out." Mega Man explained, watching his enemy's eyes start to dim. "Play around too much, and you lose track of what's happening to you. Game over, buddy." Turning away, he smiled at Bass. "And there's today's lesson. Master weapons are nice, but just plain wearing them down works too."

"I hear and obey, oh teacher." Bass saluted sarcastically. "Especially since I don't _have_ a Master Weapons system. You going to get his?"

"Yeah, yeah." Digging through Spring Man's corpse, Mega pulled out the chip. "Right then, now I just need to commit a little minor larceny. Up for helping out?"

"What's a criminal record between friends?" Bass rolled his eyes. "Oh, all right. Lead the way, boss."

"All right, I'm going to do some work now." Dr. Light called to his youngest son as he walked into his secondary, private laboratory off the side of the house. "You go do the same, Auto, but _please_ refrain from asking the neighbors to borrow a cup of copper wiring." Closing the door behind him, he locked it three times before flipping on the lights. The egg-shaped room he stood in was mostly filled with file cabinets, each one secured just as strenuously as the entryway. For this, his magnum opus, Dr. Light was taking no chances. Such detailed safeguards were normally unlike Dr. Light, especially in his home, where the only ones to protect his information from were his own family. Every time he locked himself away from them, Light still felt a bit of regret over the necessity of hiding this project from them. But necessity it was, all the same. To tell one of them would be to tell them all, and while three of his children would probably be able to cope, Rock's mental state was damaged enough already. Knowledge of what the future held in store for his kind would have to wait, until the day the Rebellions were just a bad memory and the Blue Bomber had had time to heal his fractured psyche. Reaching over to a tape recorder, he picked it up and activated it.

"A Robot Master's ability to appear human stems from its ability to add to its own behavioral response protocols." Dr. Light murmured to the recorder as he began taking out sketches and notes, diagrams and memos. "Normal robots can only respond in ways directly programmed into them, and cannot deviate from the absolute letter of the law. Robot Masters, however, can emulate any human behavior that they witness, and cross-reference sections of programming to mix and match. Thus, a suitably matured Robot Master would be behaviorally indistinguishable from a human. Those Robot Masters termed 'Advanced' are those with a strange glitch in their programming that allows them to replicate behavior at a far faster rate than normal Robot Masters. Or so I always assumed..." Spreading out the paperwork on a table, he began adding to a diagram on the computerized brain of a Robot Master, far different from the flesh and bone filling the human skull.

"Albert disagreed with me, in those final months between the construction of the six Lighttech models along with Rock and Roll, and his fall into madness. Noting the difference between the twins and the other six, and comparing the two to Blues as well, he was of the belief that the glitch eliminated the stimulus-response protocol partially, thus leaving them able to sometimes act independently, without any outside source dictating their actions. Over the past decade, interaction with five who possess this 'glitch' has led me to believe that he was correct. If I were thus able to pinpoint the glitch, and amplify its effect upon the robot brain, I would have a robot who could form all of its thoughts and actions with complete independence." He paused for a moment, as he did every time he spoke of the end result aloud; even now, it still shook him to contemplate. "This robot would be, for all intents and purposes, a mechanical human." Another pause, this one longer, closing his eyes and remembering the ghosts of those who were no longer with him. _Albert, would you approve of this? Would you, X? Ced, Don? Simdorn, you old maniac, what would it mean to you? Vanessa... what would you say to me about this, if you were still here with me, today?_

"The impact this would have on the world must not be underestimated. Doctor Wily's Robot Rebellions have generated a great deal of hostility, resulting in what can only be termed 'speciesm' in humans worldwide. This is, of course, in addition to the prejudices and hatreds which would already exist. In particular, those hard-line religious faiths that still operate generally view Robot Masters as abominations. A robot that would call itself human, and act as such, could only expect to be treated with even greater amounts." While speaking, he began writing out notes, making calculations and describing systems easily without distraction. "I could not in good faith bring this robot into the world as it is. While I hope that the Robot Rebellions will be brought to an end, further time beyond that must be allowed for people to forget the atrocities, and accept Robot Masters into society fully, or at least an approximation thereof. This gap of time shall fulfill another function as well..." Switching his pencil for a red-inked marker, he colored in a portion of the computerized brain diagram. The module containing the Three Laws, and the failsafes associated.

"If I am to create a robot with free will, then I am also obligated as much as society. The risk is incalculable, but all the same, I cannot in good conscience construct _any_ inhibitors to modify his behavior. The Three Laws of Robotics will not be a part of this robot. Once he has been completed, then, he will be subjected to decades of extensive testing to make absolutely sure there are no errors in his mind; this will be essential, since he will be capable of harming and killing humans of his own will. Should the testing prove successful, I can then only hope that he chooses to never do so, and educates others of his kind to follow his example." This time, the pause was involuntary; a brief coughing fit, passing quickly. Switching off the recorder for the moment, Dr. Light let it pass, then frowned. "Odd... I haven't caught a weather-borne illness in years, and it's certainly not an allergic reaction. Not a good sign, old boy..." Flicking the recorder back on, he continued his work and his dictation both without a change in pace.

"Unfortunately, I am pursuing this project in the twilight of my life. Although I consider myself in moderate health for my age, multiple decades are beyond my scope of expectation. I foresee ten, perhaps twelve more years if I am fortunate... the incubation period, needless to say, will exceed that. I will not be present when my final son opens his eyes for the first time." He glanced towards the locked door. "Fortunately, I have four other children who I trust in this duty. At the moment, they are unaware of their youngest sibling's creation, but in the future I will reveal this to them. However long the testing process takes, they will remain in this world. And when their youngest sibling awakens, they will be there to show him happiness." Dr. Light smiled, as he always did when thinking of the future, of what he could finally give to the robots he had created.

"At last, then, humans and robots will find happiness together. That alone makes everything I have done worthwhile."


	11. Chapter 10: Savage Land

_**Chapter 10: Savage Land**_

"Morning, Auto." Mega Man greeted his brother as he entered Big Eddie's. The mobile shop still continued its normal patrol routes through those sections of the city that had not been completely overrun, despite the absence of customers. Until all of the robots had been cleared away, the Lights were the only citizens who remained living in the city, insisting that they preferred to continue operating out of their home. Even so, Councilor Vinkus had tried to persuade them to relocate to Cossack's Citadel three times before giving up in disgust. As he joined Auto, Mega reflected on there being at least one minor upside to the city's evacuation; now, nobody would see him entering Big Eddie's. "I'm hoping one of those bolts I found for you worked out okay?"

"Like a charm! It fit perfectly!" Auto turned around and struck a pose, holding a paper fan in his free hand. The top of his head was now adorned with the modified bolt. Motionless, Mega Man remained silent, showing no reaction at all to this display. Eddie, dangling his feet off a bench, did the same. Finally, after several awkward moments, Auto turned back to his work. "Bah. No appreciation for culture at all. I'm surrounded by boors."

"On the contrary, I was waiting for the tumbleweed. _You're_ the one who didn't release it on time." Mega shot back. "Well, good to see the bolt worked, at least. I probably would have destroyed something here if me and Bass had gone to all the effort of hauling that crate out to the curb for nothing. _That_ was an adventure and a half, let me tell you."

"I'll bet." Auto chuckled, imagining it. "You probably expanded his vocabulary a good deal in the process, too."

"That's me, multi-tasking." Mega said with a wry smirk. "Anyways, now that you're up to full capacity, have you gotten started on that Energen Crystal?"

"Heh. Didn't you notice Rush wasn't in the house this morning?" Auto half-turned, giving him a thumbs-up. "I installed it just before you came in here. Your Rush Jet is fully operational once more."

"That was fast." Mega whistled. "Don't count on hearing this very often, because you've got ego issues as it is, but man, you're good."

"And you're right-I know it!" Hands on hips, Auto laughed. "Bwa ha ha ha ha!"

"Roll's going to kill me for admitting that." The Blue Bomber clutched his head. "Well, no helping it now. Might as well get on with business."

"Right, still three more to go..." Auto mused. "Let's see here... Shade Man's holed up in the old Grand Theatre, right? Next to the city graveyard?"

"Yeah, no way was a guy like him going to pass up _that_ coincidence." Mega made a face. "A vampire Robot Master. Every time I think I've seen it all, some whackjob comes up with something new to put me flat on my face. I thought Centaur Man was crazy, but this takes the cake."

"And it's only going to get worse! Murphy's Law!" Auto said jovially. "At least the other three-sorry, two now-aren't _that_ bad. Slash Man's resemblance to about half a dozen pop culture icons from the end of the last century notwithstanding."

"I'm surprised you even recognize that." Mega raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't pay attention to culture from before _you_ were made, let alone _dad_."

"One, that's not true in the least, and two, I stole some of Blues' comics once to tick him off." The younger Light explained, twirling a wrench. "Backfired big time, though. He glued a red rubber ball onto the car and promised a full paint job if I didn't give 'em back. Anyways, ol' hack and slash is at the Wild Animal Park, right? Man, what is it with Wily and going after the critters this time?"

"Well, it's certainly not getting bored with just killing one species." Mega said grimly. "Burst Man left the animals alone, so I'm hoping the same will go here."

"Worth a shot." Auto shrugged. "The other one is... oh yeah, Turbo Man. Seems the old freak's got a thing for scrap yards this time, too, if I remember correct. He's at the rubber disposal dump, right?"

"Three for three, pretty good." Mega complimented him. "I'll probably save that one for last. News footage showed him using fire-based abilities, and I was never too big on the smell of burning rubber, even before I started letting you drive."

"Pfft, what's life without a few skid marks? Boring, that's what. And with less jobs for street cleaners." Auto rambled. "Nobody wants that. Besides, once I get the truck airborne that won't be an issue any more."

"No, but I'm sure there'll be plenty more to replace that." Mega shook his head. "In the meantime, though, think you could give me another E-Tank, and one of those W-Tanks you said you could whip out?"

"No problem!" Auto jumped off his stool and took the required bolts from his brother, then began working the "Tankificator" in the corner. "I should have those S-Tanks ready soon, by the way. Only problem is, it looks like they jolt your systems more than a normal E-Tank would. I wouldn't recommend carrying more than one of those at a time; overdosing on Tanks isn't a pretty sight, from what I've heard."

"I've seen it in action. Believe me, it's not." Mega shuddered. "Definitely want to avoid that, all right. Thanks for the heads up." Watching the machine work, he leaned against a wall out of the exit slot's range. "Not to sound ungrateful, but have you been thinking of any other ideas for things to make?"

"For the Rebellion, you mean? Of course! Got to do my part, after all." Auto calmly watched the E-Tank rocket out and rebound off the wall towards him, catching it easily in his mitt-like hand. "Two ideas, but they'll both take me a day or two to put together. The first one's that Energy Balancer thing Doc Corbun made for the last Rebellion. I asked him for the specs on it, and he sent 'em with his blessings. I can make another one for you, if you think it'd come in handy." Changing the machine's setting for a W-Tank, he continued feeding the bolts into it. "The other one's for that new Super Armor your good buddy Bass gave you. While I was installing that Energen crystal in Rush, I took a look at that system. I think I can pump up the power of that rocket punch some, and extend its range too. Sound good?"

"Very. On both counts." Mega grinned brightly, for what seemed the first time in years, as it always did these days. "You're a pal, Auto. Which one can you get done faster?"

"The Balancer." Auto turned to hand him the E-Tank, as the machine spewed the W-Tank out towards the ceiling. Back to it, Auto half-turned too late to avoid being clocked in the head by the rebound, and he went down like a boxing champion from Hippo Island.

"Graceful." Mega took both Tanks and helped him back to his feet.

"I have _got_ to fix that..." The big green robot muttered, glaring at the machine. "Next thing I know it'll put one _through_ the roof. Anyways, the Balancer's just redoing Doc Corbun's work, so it should be ready by tomorrow. The armor upgrade... two days."

"Just in time for Skull Fortress then, with any luck." Mega nodded grimly. "Still don't know what I'm going to do about that in regards to Bass. If I had any choice in the matter, I'd make him stay behind, but knowing him, I _won't_ have a choice in the matter."

"Hey, kid's got guts, nothing wrong with that." Auto shrugged, returning to his workbench. "He's improving, right? And he'll keep doing that with the next three. Heck, maybe when the Teleporter Room crops up you can let him try one or two of 'em then and see if he can manage after seeing how you whupped 'em. It'd be a good place for it. Besides, always better to have another set of hands around for making sure Wily doesn't get away, right?"

"You're always optimistic, aren't you?" The Blue Bomber smiled again. "Maybe it'll work out after all. I'll hope so."

"That's all I'm asking for." Auto said with a thumbs-up. "Now get going, big bro. Kick their asses and forget their names, and give 'em one right between the eyes for me and Eddie here. We're rooting for ya."

"Oh, that's not _too_ ominous..." Mega Man muttered, looking up at the thick barbed-wire fence that had been erected around the thick bushes and trees in the Wild Animal Park. Diamond-shaped yellow "Warning!" signs also featured a crude sketch of a t-rex. "I suppose that giving warnings would be considerate of this guy, if there were still people around to need them. As is, it's just obnoxious. Two points." He frowned as the first line of defense came stomping out through the front gates; a pair of tank-like stegosaurus robots. Hissing, they began launching the spines on their backs as bladed projectiles, new ones replicating in their places almost immediately. At the same time, their tails began launching missiles.

"Okay, I _so_ do not want to go spend forever on this. Way too much artillery. Analysis said I could charge this one..." Switching to his newest weapon, the Wild Coil, the Blue Bomber did his best not to shudder at the horrific bright green and purple coloration it lent his armor. Charging it, he ran straight forward through the fire, moving past everything and coming up alongside the surprised dinosaurs' heads before they could blink. Throwing both hands out, he created a pair of spiked springs covered in plasma, which wrapped around the robots' heads and dug in. Screeching, the stegos tried to retract their heads in a turtle defense, but the tightly wound metal coils prevented their craniums from entering the tight neckholes. With a loud grinding and a shower of sparks, they collapsed, spewing smoke. Whistling casually, Mega Man thus walked on into the park.

"All right... center of the park's this way..." Mega picked up a paper map from a booth nearby. "Clumsy of them not to get rid of these. Must not be a bright one here." Examining it, he looked straight ahead, and groaned audibly, regretting never having made a trip here before. Built on the side of a massive rock rise, the Park extended up onto several shelves of cliff. "Well, to heck with this map, then. No wonder they didn't bother with those. He'll be at the top." Throwing the useless paper over his shoulder, Mega began scaling the fire escape to the first rise. The stairs and elevators had both been completely destroyed, as far as he could see.

"All right, let's see here... oh, no, this old turkey again." He slapped his face. A pair of robotic dinosaurs lay sleeping at his feet, apparently nonhostile; they showed no signs of weaponry, but instead had flat disks on their backs, clearly meant to be stood on. Below the dinos, and for a hundred feet ahead to the cliff face, a field of solid spikes stretched forbiddingly, denying all access. "Two of them... well, I'll just wait for Bass, then. Assuming he doesn't do something crazy like those hang gliders again. He's probably learned by now, though." A few seconds passed, and then he turned around and began scanning the sky frantically.

"I see that!" Bass yelled, sounding greatly offended, as he clambered out of the elevator shaft. A moment later, Treble catapulted over his head and landed, shaking himself off. "Something against hang gliders?"

"No, no, not at all." Mega chuckled, then pointed at the sleeping dinos. "All right, here's the deal here. We have to ride those things."

"...The hell?" Bass raised an eyebrow. "And we take it for granted that they won't throw us onto the spikes, or bite us, or self-destruct halfway across, or _something_, for _what_ reason exactly? Inquiring minds want to know."

"One, because I've seen this setup before."The Blue Bomber explained. "Back in the fourth. Grasshoppers instead of dinos, and it was nominally Cossack back then, but it's similar enough-they played fair last time, they'll do the same here. Second, because it's still the safest option; the only other one is teleporting up to the next level, which I've never done because it could be another thing just like this and we'd land right on the spikes. I _could_ ride Rush, but you can't, and I told you I wouldn't ditch you again. Which means we're stuck with these."

"Hadn't thought of it that way." Bass muttered a bit sheepishly, looking at the dinos again. "Well, hell. You're willing to risk it, I will. Treble, you can warp to my location once we're on solid ground again, okay? So... we just hop on?"

"Pretty much." Mega jumped onto the flat platform of the dino's back, and Bass followed suit with the other. Opening their eyes and raising their heads, the robot rides stood and began loping across the spikes towards the next fire escape. "Oh, one more thing. We'll probably come under attack from the air."

"_What?_" Bass screamed, whirling to stare at a hatch that was now opening in the side of the cliff ahead, spewing out flying robots. "Gee, thanks so much for letting me know that little detail about this ride _before_ I bought the ticket!"

"Lesson for today, young one!" Mega cackled, opening fire. "Be ready for anything! Surprises like this can happen at any time, and they'll usually be a lot less nice about it!"

"I don't believe this." Bass grumbled, firing as well. "I just don't believe this shit." He leaned over and forward, so that his head was alongside his steed's. "Do _you_ believe this shit?"

"The dinosaur doesn't have an opinion." Mega rolled his eyes. "Okay, here comes the escape. Also, they're not going to stop for us, so get ready to jump."

"Saw _that_ one coming after your first 'surprise,' at least." Bass leaped and grabbed the fire escape's rungs, immediately climbing up so Mega could get on below him.

"You're learning, pal." The Blue Bomber laughed again. Once they were at the top, he looked ahead and smiled. "Okay, good. No spikes-just open ground for a while, then another cliff with some treeborgs on top. Not even any robots... you know, actually, I don't like that..."

"Who cares? I'm calling Treble." Bass snorted, then froze in place. "Or... not. _Shit_." From the cliff above, a robot was making a running jump over their heads to land behind them. A big robot. A full-sized, red-and-yellow, robotic _tyrannosaurus rex _robot.

"Dude." Mega Man summed up the situation in short order. "_Run_."

Howling like lunatics and frantically waving their arms, the two Robot Masters ran across towards the forest, the rex in pursuit. Eventually, Mega managed to get control of himself and start thinking.

"Okay. I think I have a plan, but it's a bit risky."

"_Life_ is risky. Let's hear it." Bass answered without a second thought. "We'll never make it up the ladder with that thing behind us."

"You distract it... fifteen seconds. Then I'll handle it from there while you get to the ladder." Mega explained.

"Fifteen seconds. Go. Hey, ugly!" Bass began firing at the rex's lantern jaw. "Who the heck ever heard of a _pink_ t-rex? And that jaw? You look like a can opener! Whoa!"

"All right, looks like I owe you one, Auto." Mega muttered, turning left and signaling Rush as the rex took off after Bass, roaring angrily. Teleporting in, Rush took one look at the situation and instantly transformed, legs retracting and torso flattening out into a jetboard. "Heh. You've seen it all by now too, huh, boy? Whoa, we'd better hurry up!" Ahead, the rex was breathing fire in a constant stream, and growing closer to Bass with every step. Jumping on, Mega took to the skies and opened fire on the rex. "Okay, Bass! Get out of here!"

"You're gonna make poor Treble jealous at this rate, you know!" Bass yelled, doing as instructed. Behind him, the dinosaur roared again, turning nimbly and attempting to scorch its flying enemies.

"He's a tough guy! He'll get over it!" Mega yelled back, easily soaring out of range. Smiling widely , he began raining fire down on his groundbound target. _The rest of this Rebellion is shit upon shit... but I'll take the sky any day. Thanks, Auto._ Soaring around in a circle, he smirked as a gun in the rex's chest began firing tiny bits of sharp metal shrapnel up at him. Those were just as easily dodged, and eventually, the big dino went down. Bringing Rush over to the treeborgs and landing, he scratched the exhausted robo-dog's head. "Good work, boy. Go back home and rest now, huh?"

"Woof." Nodding, Rush departed.

"Pretty impressive, slick." Bass called from the forest. "While you were showing off, though, I found something else interesting. Check this out. The big lug actually managed to set fire to some of these trees. Most flamethrowers don't have that sort of range. Pretty impressive."

"That's hardly a good thing, you know." Mega commented, joining him and Treble. "Generally, forest fires are bad, although this park probably has some sort of automated sprinkler system. I assume you have some other point, though."

"Yeah. We're right up against the building they keep the newborns in, and check that out." Bass pointed above the main door, where burning leaves had fallen away to reveal a titanium cage. Inside that cage, now stirring at the sight of Mega Man, was Beat the robotic bird. "Isn't that guy one of yours?"

"Yeah, it is. Hey, Beat!" Mega waved up at him. "Phew... am I glad he's still active. Wily birdnapped him. Now I just need to figure out how to get him down from there without hurting him."

"Leave that to us." Bass winked. "Treble, rescue!" At his command, the wolf jumped into the tree's branches, then effortlessly bit through the chain holding the cage up. Grabbing it before it fell, he returned to the ground and proceeded to gnaw through the bars.

"What're his teeth made out of? Diamond?" Mega wondered.

"Something like that. Like I said before, maybe kicking ass is all he can do, but he's _good_ at that." Bass proudly watched Treble work.

Freed and chirping happily, Beat promptly perched on Treble's head.

"Sorry, pal. Life with my family has removed his sense of common sense." Mega apologized to Treble, who looked vaguely offended by his passenger.

"Let's just go before they start brawling." Bass suggested. "I see the shutter in there."

"About time. This one's been a headache." Mega rubbed his head, walking in. "The usual."

"You want fries with that?" Bass deadpanned.

"Sounds good to me." A high-pitched growl echoed through the room they entered, four times as tall as it was wide. "I'll even volunteer to slice the potatoes." Slamming into the wall above their heads, rebounding into the floor in front of them, back into the air off the opposite wall, and finishing in a triple front flip before landing again, Slash Man snarled in greeting. Short and wiry, he had straight, foot-long metal claws attached to his gauntlets, and a strange array of bright orange spikes around his head that looked like a professional wrestler's hairstyle.

"A real animal, huh." Mega snorted, unimpressed. "Five bucks says a kangaroo could take you."

"Funny man, are you? So funny you think you can kill me with jokes?" Slash Man said with a flick of his right claw. "Not gonna happen. Hunt's on, hero man. Kill or be killed. Let's get it over with."

"Deal." Mega nodded, then slid under the broad jump his enemy made. _Obvious he's a close-up fighter, and a good jumper too._ Turning, he fired his customary opener charged shot. "I consider myself more of a veterinarian than a hunter, really."

"Shame." Turning instantly, Slash Man blocked the shot with a clawswipe, reducing the amount of plasma that struck him. "I'm not easy to put down."

"So I noticed." Mega winced, backpedalling to get out of range of the next jump and firing again, with similar results. _Oooookay, two charged hits and he's barely singed. Break out the Master Weapons earlier than usual._

"Use something else, you clown!" Bass echoed his thoughts from the sidelines. "We'll be here all day otherwise!"

"Hey-" Slash Man turned to snarl at him, but thought better of it, and turned back to Mega Man. "You just _had_ to bring an audience, didn't you?"

"He's in the fine print." Mega shrugged, trying a shot of the Thunder Bolt. "At least you know not to take your eyes of the enemy."

"A good hunter never does that." Slash Man grinned, swiping and missing, ignoring the electricity surging through him. "Doesn't lose to a stun gun, either."

"Apparently, a good hunter also has shit for aim." Mega said with a smirk of his own.

"Grrr... you're faster than I thought." Slash Man admitted grudgingly. "Looks like I'll have to trap you first." Launching himself at the wall again, he rebounded off the opposite, and continued up the room this way until near the top, where he sunk a claw into the wall to hold himself up. Howling, he began hurling his free arm out, each toss producing a metal sphere that fell towards them.

"Watch it!" Bass snarled as the first one nearly hit him, exploding upon impact with the ground to reveal a disgusting red goop.

"Hey, you're not the one it's _aimed_ at!" Mega yelled, ducking and dodging while tossing a Danger Wrap up.

"Oh, _please_." Yawning theatrically, Slash Man freed himself and vaulted over it, then continued his barrage from the opposite wall. "_That_ couldn't have hit me even _if_ I was asleep. _And_ the size of a barn door."

"Big talk from somebody who hasn't even scratched me-dammit!" Mega raised his hand as one of the bombs finally hit home, slathering his head in slime completely. He clawed at it without much effect; the goop was rubbery, and heavy to boot. Desperately, he threw up the Junk Shield.

"Here, let me help you with that!" Slash Man cackled, and then Mega heard the sound of jets activating. A moment later, the enemy slammed into him like a missile, claws first.

"Guh..." Choking, Mega Man saw pieces of his armor go flying away. At least the attack had taken the goo off as well, but Slash Man's claws were buried in his side now. _Shit. Missed my fusion generator, at least, but this is bad._ Groaning, he rolled backwards off the claws, feigning total defeat. _Wild Coil, or... oh, of _course. _Can't believe I didn't think of this before. Bass is right, I _am _getting old._

"Done already, hero?" Slash Man kicked him disdainfully. "Pathetic."

"Don't be so sure, yet." Bass advised him with a smirk. "He's better than you are."

"What?" Slash Man whirled on him, angry, then realized his mistake and turned back-too late, as a ball of ice hit him in the chest. Its effects were instantly visible, the cold spreading over his entire body within instants and covering him with a thin layer of ice. Expression of shock still on his face, he slid over and across the floor, the ice only breaking when he hit the far wall. Slash Man struggled slowly to his feet, shivering. "Guh... damn you..."

"What finished off the dinosaurs?" Mega Man quipped, standing again. "The Ice Age."

"Don't get cocky, dammit! You're still prey!" Slash Man did his wall-jumps again. "This time I'll finish you!"

"Wrong." Mega fired again.

"Ha!" Slash Man jumped across, only to see the Freeze Cracker break into shrapnel too late. Hit and frozen again, he fell over fifteen feet into the ground. This time, it was not only the ice that shattered.

"Messy." Bass commented. "At least you won't have to dig around for the weapons chip this time."

"I just hope it didn't break." Mega muttered, looking over the mangled corpse. "Ahh... nope. Here it is."

"That's another one for the extinct list, then. Two to go." Bass waved. "Let me guess. Shade Man's next time?"

"You're getting good at this. Right on the money." The Blue Bomber nodded. "See you around. Thanks again for Beat... and speaking of which, come here, you."

"Tweet." Beat flew over obediently, leaving Treble's head. The purple wolf glanced at Mega, then woofed.

"He says he appreciates it." Bass translated. "All right, we're out of here. Catch you in Thrillerville." He and Treble warped off.

"We'd better get going too." Mega decided. "Let's get back. The others'll be happy to see you-and you can see what Auto's been making while you were gone."

Beat even managed to look disconcerted before they teleported away.


	12. Chapter 11: Children Of The Blight

_**Chapter 11: Children Of The Blight**_

"Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny!" Bass cheerfully yelled as he sauntered into Shade Man's command room, in what had been the manager's office of the Tokyo Grand Theater. "Any bats in the belfry around here?"

"Just contemplating my chambers." Shade Man sat in the plush chair behind the desk, posture perfect, as he tapped one claw against a fang and stared at a blank space of wall. "I keep feeling like there should be a pipe organ there, although there's hardly room. Illogical of me, isn't it?"

"Not at all. It'd fit the theme. Look good." Bass shook his head, smirking. "Problem is, I doubt you'd have time to learn how to play it before blue boy came in. He's probably already on his way here."

"Ah... it shall not be long before my turn to go into that good night, then." Shade Man noted, predatory smile not budging an inch from his face. "I suppose that is one advantage to being programmed to resemble the undead. I find myself remarkably unconcerned with the prospect-or even the certainty-of destruction."

"Huh... you're an odd one, man." Bass informed him after a pause. "Freeze Man, I got. He was pissed when he figured out that he was a dead man walking. You really don't care, though? Knowing that you're going to lose, and die, doesn't mean anything to you?"

"If that is my fate, then would there be any meaning to denying it?" Shade Man shrugged, wings twitching idly. "To rant and rage pointlessly, demeaning myself for no gain? No, sir, I think not. I shall take what happens with some measure of grace."

"Hmph... yeah, there's no way I can understand that." Bass gave in and shrugged. "That's just nothing like the way I think. Even if there was somebody stronger than me, I'd never admit it. I'd be kicking and spitting all the way to the grave. 'Course, that's just theory. Well, enough idle talk." He turned to look Shade Man in the eye. "Now it's time for business. If dying's no big deal for you, then I'm sure you won't mind helping me out a bit before that, right?"

"I am intrigued, sir." Shade Man turned the chair to face Bass directly across the desk and steepled his hands, eyes beginning to glow. "I assume this has to do with the marvelous game you've been playing with our enemies?"

"You got it." Bass leaned against the wall opposite Shade Man casually, only the glitter in his own eyes showing how seriously he was taking their current topic of conversation. "I've built things up to the point I wanted them to reach; he's completely convinced, and the rest of the family like me too, so they're willing to take his word on that. You and Turbo Man are the only ones left now, and once you're down he'll be off to dad's. In other words, the emotions are right, and the timing's right. Now all I need to do is make it happen."

"And the people who lived here called _me_ a monster." Shade Man's eyes glinted as well. "Of course, anything and everything within my ability is at your command, sir. And may I say that it would be so even if you were not my direct superior. Of course, there is a downside. Now, alas, I do have one regret about my death. I won't be able to see what you do with this myself."

"Good robot. Or should I say, bad robot. Very, very bad... and my kind of guy." Bass clapped. "All right then. This _should_ sell all by itself, but I didn't get this far by being careless, so we're going to take every precaution to make sure he doesn't suspect a damn thing until it's too late. How do we do this, you ask? Simple. We piss him off royally. I've been tagging along with him enough to have a pretty good idea as to what gets his goat, so let's light the poor critter on fire and ram it down the chimney, huh?"

"Ah... interesting analogy, but yes, I understand." Shade Man blinked, then began working on his computer. "All right. What should I pull up first, then?"

"Start with the zombies-they're the most numerous." Bass instructed. "Now here's what we're going to do..."

* * *

"Ooookay. Maybe not waiting for morning to come before this one _wasn't_ such a bright idea after all." Mega Man muttered to himself as he looked around Shade Man's domain, the full moon appearing from behind the clouds to shine across the lake between him and the wreckage of Kotobuki, still broken from Wily's initial rampage. It also served to illuminate the graveyard. Once used to lay dead humans to rest, it was now being occupied by the same robots infesting the old Tokyo Grand Theater, located unfortunately adjacent. Between him and the building, the only sign of movement was a lone crow robot, and Mega distrusted that on general principle.

"Caw." The crow eyed him, then opened its beak to screech, but didn't hop or fly towards him. Remaining stationary, it nonetheless began to spin in an odd circle, then focused on the Blue Bomber again. "Caw."

"Okay, fine, I'll bite." Mega shrugged. "Nevermore?"

"Caw." Now the crow began spitting plasma, apparently offended.

"Right." Mega returned the favor, then walked past its remains. "Guess that was the welcoming committee."

"Nope! Dat's us!" A low-pitched voice yelled, jumping out of a nearby tree. It could only be classified as a robotic zombie. Humanoid, but extremely shoddily constructed, with only one arm barely hanging on and a skull that had exposed wiring, one eye, and a hanging jaw that was gap-toothed. Waving cheerily at Mega man, it proceeded to lurch towards him. "How yeh doin'?"

"Just fine." Mega destroyed it with a scowl. "I hate when they rig voice recordings onto dumb 'bots. Guess that crow was just the sentry, then." He turned towards the building again, then paused, eye twitching. "Yep. Definitely the sentry."

"Whoa! Woohoo! Wahay!" From the ground ahead, coffins were rising. Entire, vertical metal caskets, all identical. As they cleared the ground, their lids popped off dramatically, revealing more robotic zombies like the first. Turning to stare at Mega, they waited for a few seconds before one spoke up. "If yer expectin' us ta do the Thrilla dance, ferget it. We only do disco."

"I _really_ hate it when they do that." Mega slapped his face, then opened fire again.

"Oy! Get 'im, lads!" Another cried. "Cammon, ya know the line!" Stretching out their arms, they advanced, moaning. "Control chips... control chips..."

"This is turning from a bad joke to a nightmare, really fast." Mega shook his head, standing his ground and clearing a wide path, then running for it through the hole in their ranks. "I suppose that's what you're going for, so well done, I guess."

"Awww, fanks!" A zombie jumped out from behind a tombstone, clumsily chomping for his head. Caught off guard, Mega instinctively grabbed at its arm, and the appendage came off easily in his hand. Both of them froze, looking down at the arm for a few seconds, before Mega casually clubbed the zombie out of the way.

"The cheeky blighter's disarmin' us!" The other zombies howled. "Let's rush the bum!" They charged en masse, and Mega beat a hasty retreat to the back entrance of the theater. Whipping the door open, he fired instantly, then fired again behind the door, eliminating both lurking zombies. As an afterthought, he fired once more straight up, nailing the one hanging from the ceiling too.

"I guess I can't give Blues grief for making me watch all those old horror movies any more." The Blue Bomber admitted wryly. "It's coming in handy. Oh, no... what is this, Castlevania?" Massive, bulky suits of empty, medieval armor lined both sides of the red-carpeted hallway ahead of him. They were painted green, bore blades on helmets and shoulders, and carried massive spears. "If none of these come to life and attack me, I'm quitting." Proceeding carefully and slowly, he blinked as a helmet suddenly tumbled to the ground. Eyes filling the holes suddenly, it sprouted tiny arms and legs as well, righted itself and threw its headblade at him like a flying buzzsaw. A dodge and a blast took it out of commission. "Well, that's close enough. I should probably avoid just blasting them all... they might be valuable or something. I'll just wait and kill the ones that come for me, then." Only when he had reached the far end of the hall did it occur to Mega that some might have played dead to hit him in the back. Fortunately, that hadn't actually occurred, but it was still an embarrassing oversight. "I wonder where Bass is. He wouldn't have missed that, and he usually shows up by now..."

Unfortunately, there was no sign of his black-armored comrade, and Mega Man was forced to continue through the next hall alone, braving familiar "bubble bat" Battonton robots as well as crushing weights on chains. Both were old news by now, and Mega managed them without difficulty, finding his way into a former theater in the process. The seats had all been removed, but something was playing on the screen-a cheesy children's animation of a dancing pumpkin. Waiting for the other shoe to drop, Mega armed his Buster, and sure enough, after a moment a pumpkin tank ripped through the screen into the room. A standard jack-o-lantern design, ten feet across and solid metal, it began clumsily hopping toward the Blue Bomber on thruster jets.

"Yeah! Awright!" More zombies peered out from behind the torn screen and cheered, waving little flags with pumpkins on them. "Get 'em, Jacko!"

"Plasma deflective metal..." Mega muttered to himself, ignoring them and firing at the pumpkin only to watch his plasma slip off harmlessly. "Guess I'll have to use a little more accuracy, then." Sliding away from the crashing contraption, he began aiming shots into the eyeholes. From the hissing sounds, he knew whatever was inside was absorbing the plasma, not reflecting it.

"Hahaha..." Laughing mechanically, the tank ground to a halt, then split apart horizontally, raising its top to reveal another, purple pumpkin inside that did the same. The last pumpkin at the core was orange again, and had a cute, childish smile. "Boo!" Puckering, it began spitting green bits of metal at Mega Man.

"Seed bullets." Mega shook his head, then winced as one penetrated his arm. "Ow! Plant Man's rolling in his grave."

"Haha!" Finishing up, the pumpkin tank closed again and resumed trying to flatten him in one go, with little success again; Mega continued to dodge and shoot through the eyes. Growling, it opened up again, this time rising into the air and sprinkling the seeds around it. Keeping his distance, Mega waited for it to land, then ran up and tossed a Wild Coil into the machine just as it was closing up. Groaning, it began emitting smoke from every orifice, but didn't move again.

"Oy, he's downed the Jacko!" The zombie 'bots yelled, throwing the flags at Mega and crawling out from what could now be seen as a secret passage behind the screen. "Let's show 'im a thing or two, lads!"

"This way, then." Still determinedly ignoring them, Mega used the Slash Claw to clear his way through the shambling horrors; the new weapon sliced and diced poorly constructed 'bots with almost no effort.

"Bah! Gerroff!" The zombies wailed. "Up to ye then, Wolf Unit! Avenge us!"

"I don't like the sound of that at all." Mega frowned, climbing up a ladder and emerging on the theatre's roof. Above him, the clouds were obscuring the moon at the moment, so illumination was minimal. Nevertheless, the armored knight robots patrolling it were clearly visible. However, with lances replacing both hands, and a unicycle wheel instead of legs, they were hardly a threat. Absurd red plumes on their golden helmets completed the absurdity. Shaking his head, Mega opened fire and quickly cleared a path to the hatch on the other end. As he approached, the moon emerged once more, and all of the remaining knights paused to stare up at it, prompting the light bulb in Mega's brain to flicker to life. "_Wolf_ Unit... damn!" He scrambled down the ladder as the knightbots shifted like children's action figures, unfolding powerful claws and snarling new heads, the ridiculous tassels becoming bushy tails. Descending the ladder with as much haste as possible, Mega found himself in a covered balcony above the main entrance hall. Firing a Freeze Cracker upwards to discourage pursuers, Mega jumped from the balcony even before he heard the yelp. Fortunately, that seemed to work; there were no more threats as he passed by rows of stained glass windows towards the metal shutter he sighted at the back. Above it, a huge portrait of the theatre's founder had been replaced by an oil of Dr. Wily, grim and sober for once and dressed like some sort of dark wizard, which was close enough to the truth.

"Still no sign of Bass." Mega's face resembled that of his nemesis before him as he realized that. "Either something's happened to keep him away from here, or... you _damn fool!_" He snarled as the shutter opened, and Bass limped out.

"I have an explanation, okay?" Bass snapped back, clearly having a bad day. His armor was slightly loose at several joints, somehow having been shaken to the point that it no longer fit his body perfectly, as well as bearing clear sets of puncture marks in multiple places, always in pairs. His left leg was particularly trashed, a mangled mess with nearly half its wiring exposed. By his side, Treble was limping as well, but still able to growl threateningly and move between them, clearly paranoid over his master's condition.

"You have a lot of luck you don't deserve, is what you have." Mega Man replied coldly, crossing his arms. "You promised you wouldn't fight a Robot Master again without my okay, and yet here you are, getting your ass kicked twice as bad as with Cloud Man. This had _better_ be a good explanation, because if it's not I'm shipping you off to Russia for the rest of this Rebellion."

"Fine." Bass stared him in the eye. "First goddamn Law override."

"What?" _That_ drained all of the anger from Mega Man instantly, and he stared in obvious confusion.

"You heard me. I _had_ to try and stop it." Bass thumbed over his shoulder at the shutter. "You've seen that sick freak. He's got a vampire theme going on, and apparently he's way into it. Had some of his robots bring in a human-don't know where he got him-and ripped the poor bastard's neck open just for kicks. I tried to save the bum, but I was too late, and by then I was stuck with the freak. What the hell _else_ was I supposed to do, huh? Just stand there and watch the human die? I can't _do_ that, dammit! None of us can!"

"No, we can't..." Mega Man muttered, thinking back to his own experiences with the First Law. _Every time I think about it, it seems like there's more of them. Why? And why does it seem like I get further and further away from it?_ "I'm sorry, Bass. You're right-there was nothing you can do. I'm just glad you lived, now."

"Don't sweat it." Bass closed his eyes with a small chuckle. "I'm kind of used to this shit by now, really. My own fault for being so damn careless and not being ready to fight the bum when I couldn't save the poor sap. I got my ass kicked so easy it was freakin' embarrassing." He glanced down at Treble, who was still looking worried, but had quieted down some. "Man, all this time and I haven't improved much at all. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this sort of thing. You could probably bring Wily in easier without me dragging you down anyways."

"Hey. Don't give me that." Mega stepped past Treble to slap him on the shoulder. "You think I started out at the top? Honestly, it's a _miracle_ I won the first Rebellion-so many close shaves there, it wasn't funny. I was a freaking _lab assistant_, for chrissakes. What did I know about fighting? And Proto Man... it took him _three years_ to find his way home after he got lost. You just stick with me, okay? I've got something in mind once we head to Skull Fortress that'll be perfect for training you. For now, just let me clean this jerk up, and then we'll head back to my place. Dad can fix you and Treble up easily, I promise. Roll might give you some grief, though, I'll warn you."

"You know, that's _just_ how I always wanted to make my first trip to a girl's house. With my damn leg falling off." Bass rolled his eyes, but smiled. "All right, thanks. I won't even protest any more about that. You're good people, all of you. I'm glad to have friends like you." He dropped the smile and looked back towards the shutter. "At least I got intel on the freak. He's a flyer, but that's no surprise-what's nasty is that he can actually drain Internal Operations Energy if he manages to bite you. Sucked it out like I was a freakin' can of soda. Uses some kind of beam, too-that one freezed up my systems when it hit."

"Nasty stuff, sounds like." Mega prepped his Slash Claw. "I won't even mess around with plasma this time, then. You two stay out here, and we'll all head back when I come out of there with batboy's head."

"You better." Bass fought the urge to grin savagely at that thought. "Rip him a new one for me, hero."

"That's the plan." Mega walked through the shutter.

"Ah, good evening." Hanging by his feet from the ceiling, Shade Man still somehow managed to sip from a glass of what looked like wine.

"You're going to screw up your voice processor like that, pal." Mega Man advised him charitably, though he refrained from smiling.

"Mm." Turning, Shade Man spat at the wall. "Quite right, but there are certain expectations placed on style."

"It's overrated." Mega shrugged. "My brother's the one who got all the genes for that. Figuratively speaking, of course."

"A shame." Sighing, Shade Man disengaged his claws and flipped in midair, beating his wings to slow his fall to the ground. Landing perfectly, he placed the wineglass on his desk and bowed to his opponent. "Shade Man, leader of the Second Wave."

"Mega Man, guy wearing blue armor." Mega replied in a iron deadpan. "That satisfy the formalities?"

"Oh, I suppose. If you're going to be absolutely banal about it." With another sigh, Shade Man rose into the air again and began hovering at ceiling level, doing nothing to dodge the first charged shot that slammed right into him. "Hmph. Well, _that_ certainly hurt. It's a good thing I have thick armor, then."

"That's okay, I've got the whole morning off if we need it." Mega wisecracked, watching him carefully. _Right, I'll try the Claw as soon as he gets close... _

"Well, at least your sense of humor's more apt than your grace." Pausing suddenly, Shade Man froze his wings, then dived down upon him.

"Crap!" Caught, the Blue Bomber was pinned in a grapple, and a moment later he felt titanium fangs piercing his shoulder. "Gaaah, this is what Bass warned me about! Get _off_, leech boy!"

"Mm..." Shade Man sucked, draining energy, until Mega's claw forced his arms aside and his victim struggled out. Flying back up, Shade Man grinned down at him. "Well, that hit the spot... you mean the boy?"

"He'd kill me if I called him that, but yeah." Mega glanced at the tiny scratches on the vampire's arm and shook his head. _Wasn't kidding about his armor being thick, and he's not even a bulky guy-he must be a skeleton under all that._ "You busted him up. I tend to get irritated when people do that to my friends."

"A natural reaction, I'll agree." Shade Man cackled as a Danger Wrap attempted to enclose him and was broken with a wingbeat, the bomb dropping harmlessly off to the floor. Once it had blown, he descended after it calmly. "But it's his own fault, really. If he stays up past his bedtime, he can't complain when the monsters come to play with him." Landing, he bent over and fired a slow, twisting white beam of light from his eyes.

"Eyebeams. That's a new one, even on me." Mega barely managed to slide past it, then hurdle a second. "Heard about those too-no way you're tagging me." Coming up in front of Shade Man, he launched a pair of Wild Coils.

"Ack!" The vampire snarled in disgust as the spiked springs slammed into him, knocking him off his feet and onto his rear in a very undignified manner. "Impudence!"

"You're surprised by this? Somebody didn't do their homework." Mega smirked, throwing out more.

"Grr..." Somehow managing to return to his feet despite the springs all over him, Shade Man aimed his own buster and fired it. "Very well, then! Witness my true power!" The air rippled oddly, and Mega Man frowned, before something invisible struck him down while filling his ears with pain.

"Sonic boom...?" The hero gritted his teeth and saw Shade Man fire again. Sliding away, he looked back to where he had been and saw an odd distortion in the air like a haze of heat, bouncing off the wall and returning to the vampire.

"Well spotted! Ahahahaha!" Laughing Shade Man allowed the shockwave to hit him. As it did, his eyes flashed with violet light for a moment, and then he fired once more at Mega's new location. This time, the distortion was twice as big.

"Absorption, and redirection..." Hissing under his breath, Mega tried to dodge, but could not manage in time and was hit again, this time feeling crushed as if by a sudden increase in gravity. Glancing over at the energy meter on his arm, he pulled an E-Tank out from his armor pocket and drained the canister, then dodged the second reflected wave. Looking around, he saw that it dissipated instead of rebounding a second time on contact with the wall. "Quite an advancement in sonic technology... I have no idea how you do that. Your creator's still a genius in his madness."

"Why, thank you." Shade Man bowed again, then rose into the air once more.

"Don't get too cocky." Mega Man tagged his legs with another Wild Coil as the vampire rose. "I've got your number now. You're going down, hard."

"Quite the boast. Can you back it up, I wonder?" Fluttering around, Shade Man grinned and paused for a half a second before diving again.

"Gotcha." With only a slight smile, Mega Man threw his Buster up into his enemy's path and fired the charged version of the Wild Coil. Encased in plasma, the spiked spring slammed into the vampire's jaw, slamming his head back and wrapping around his neck. "Noticed you halt a moment before you dive. And by the way..." Stepping aside, Mega watched the second charged Coil he had launched with his other hand bounce past and smack Shade Man. "You're not the only one who can launch things off walls."

"I see... well done." Smiling broadly, Shade Man lunged for him, but Mega Man simply sidestepped, aimed, and fired at the back of his head. Wrapped up by half a dozen springs now, Shade Man could no longer move out of the way, and Mega continued firing until he had burned through the back of his enemy's skull. Waiting for the vampire to stop twitching, he glanced out the room's only window and smiled at what he saw.

"Just in time for sunrise. How appropriate." Taking the weapons chip, he turned to rejoin his friends, taking only a moment to send the horrors of the night back to their sleep.

* * *

"Do you normally land on the lawn when you teleport back home?" Bass inquired, looking around the neighborhood curiously. "Nice place to live, looks like. Little quiet, though."

"Didn't want to surprise the family by showing up in the lab with company." Mega explained. "This place is usually livelier by now, but you know how it goes, Rebellion and all."

"Right, right." Bass started limping towards the house, raising an eyebrow at the egg-shaped side laboratory protruding from the left but declining to comment, simply making a mental note that it looked interesting. "At least you don't gotta worry about Treble being housetrained." By his side, the purple wolf gave him an unamused stare.

"I just hope he doesn't catch anything from the clowns we have." Mega shook his head in resignation, indicating a four-foot hole in the side yard. "We really need to get that filled in."

"Not _even_ going to ask." Bass said, reaching the door and glancing at it cautiously. "You got keys, or do we knock?"

"Neither." Mega stepped past him and opened the door. "Ta-da. It's called a knob. Simple concept, really."

"You don't _lock it_?" The black-armored robot stared in genuine shock before remembering to keep walking. "You've _got_ to be shitting me. Hero of six Robot Rebellions, and you don't lock your _front door?_"

"You think anybody's stupid enough to rob _this_ place?" Mega asked in turn, raising an eyebrow. "We do make it fairly obvious who lives here. And if somebody _was_ that stupid, we'd _find_ them." He paused for a moment, then sighed. "All right, it's because if we lock it Auto forgets and rips it open anyways. We lost two locks that way."

"Have I mentioned I'm glad I'm an only child?" Bass surveyed the inside of the house with a smile. "Nice place. Your interior decorator knows what they're doing."

"Thank you." Roll called from the top of the stairs as she walked out of her bedroom and began to descend. "Welcome to our humble abode. I'd offer you a drink, but we're robots, so that's not really a good idea. To business, then." She began looking her brother and her friend over analytically, then pointed to them each in turn, Mega first. "You, beat up pretty badly, but you've had worse. You, ass _thoroughly_ kicked, especially that leg, which might need more super glue than we have. You, a little banged up but better than these two." Finishing on Treble, she pointed back at Bass. "Congratulations, you're in the worst shape."

"Um, thanks?" Bass blinked, confused.

"I don't think so." Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she walked over to Bass and kicked his injured leg, causing him to fall over with a cry of pain. "You _dumbass!_ What the hell were you thinking, getting yourself in this kind of shape? Did you just stand there and _let_ them mob you? Or maybe you jumped off a cliff a few times?"

"Don't even bother." Mega advised Treble. "She always does this. Just be glad you're not on the receiving end. I sure am. Heading on up, sis." He waved goodbye as he started up the stairs. "Good luck, Bass."

"Gee, thanks." Bass muttered before glaring up at Roll, clutching his leg in pain. "What the hell was that for? You really think I _wanted_ to look like this?"

"If you were dumb enough to let this happen, it wouldn't surprise me!" Roll snarled back, not budging an inch. "Here I was hoping that my brother'd have a buddy who'd keep his injuries _down_, not try for the record! Honestly..." Bending over, she pulled Bass to his feet. "Arm on my shoulders, stupid. Nobody here to see a girl helping you up except Treble."

"I come in here looking like this, and you think I'm worried about salvaging my dignity?" Bass joked, doing as she said. "All right, all right, I get the point. I was stupid, I paid for it. Can we drop the subject already?"

"Hey, I'm going to be doing what looks like eight hours of repairwork on your ass." Roll informed him, then blanched. "Not literally, of course. You know what I mean. Point is, I'm fixing you up for free, so I think I'm entitled to yell at you a bit."

"Aheh. Treble, if she checks me out while I'm asleep, keep an eye on her." Bass instructed the wolf with a slight chuckle. "Yell all you want, that's fine. Just don't grind that leg wound any more, huh? I'm reckless, not masochistic."

"Oh, fine." Roll shoved him a bit. "If you're going to complain so much about that. No real point in making it worse, anyways. That'd just give me more to do."

"Exactly. Consider it self-interest." Bass looked around the top of the stairs. "Roomier than I'd think up here. You all have separate rooms?"

"We do now. Auto was bunking with Blues for a while at first." Roll explained, steering him towards the lab. "That went well until Blues actually came back to the house. Afterwards, we put in a basement for Auto to sleep in. It was best for all parties involved that way."

"I can imagine why, yeah." Bass winced sympathetically. "I've seen that giant... _thing_... of his stomping around the city. This is a nice place, though. A real home... wonder what it'd be like to have that."

"Where are you and Treble staying?" Roll asked, glancing around the lab to make sure it wasn't looking too messy. _For once, I'm glad we moved out of the old place. I would _not _want to explain the scars on the walls._ "You never told me that."

"The warehouse we woke up in." Bass moved away from her and over to the counter with a sigh. "It's down in a slum; abandoned, so there aren't even any records to tell us who put us there. We've got nothing to go on."

"Tch." Roll glared out the window. "I'll have to tell dad about that. That way when we do track down your creator, dad can give him a lesson in responsibility, right in the face. He deserves that for just leaving you guys."

"You sure are different from how I imagined you'd be." Bass said with a smile, starting to relax. "Nothing personal, but when I heard about the Rebellions and your family, my mental picture of you was a little more, well..."

"Girly?" Roll finished for him, turning away from the window. "I can do that when we're not in action; Rebellions only last a month at most, you know. When they _are_ on, though, we've got to be all business." Glancing down at her hands, she lowered her eyelids halfway. "I've always regretted not joining my brothers on the front lines. If all I can do is keep them alive, then fine. I'll do that, and I'll put everything I've got into it. It doesn't matter if I piss them off or make a fool of myself or _anything_, as long as I do my job. That's what matters. Anything else is secondary."

"Huh... you're a good one, Roll." Bass informed her after a pause. "Your brother, I don't really get. He takes it all so casually; Wily's one thing, but the Robot Masters... they're just a nine-to-five job by now. You go all out every time he comes back, though, don't you? You probably work yourself until he's completely repaired, even if you have to stay up all night. Knowing that there's a limit to what you can do just makes doing that mean even more to you."

"If that's what I can do to help, then I'll damn well do it, and do it right." Roll shrugged, picking up a wrench and twirling it idly. "It's what I'm good at, and it needs to be done; dad's too busy these days, and actual Robot Master systems aren't Auto's specialty. I still don't _like_ being the one who can't fight, but I've learned to channel my energy into actually accomplishing stuff. I guess that counts for something."

"Hmph... yeah, I can definitely understand that." Bass smiled again, ever-so-slightly. "That's kinda the way I think, too. Even though your brother's so much better than me, I'm not gonna be content to just sit back and let him do all the hard work forever. One day I'll be right up there at the top with him, and I'll stay there all the way to the end when Wily's in his grave. 'Course, that's if I don't die first."

"You won't." Roll said with a little smile of her own. "I can tell. You're a survivor, Bass. A real tough guy. And when even that fails you, well, that's what I'm here for, isn't it? Now, enough idle talk." She stared Bass in the eye. "It's time I got to work, so head into stasis. Wounds in combat might be no big deal for you, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't like me welding you back into shape while you were still conscious."

"Ah, no. Sleepy time for me, then." Bass agreed, closing his eyes. "And hey, Roll? Thanks. For everything." As he drifted off into stasis, the evil Robot Master maintained his smile, surprised at himself for actually being honest about his thought processes to some degree. _Face it, Bass old boy; you actually like this one._ But despite that, Bass knew he would carry out the mission he had came here for without a single qualm. And it would be just too bad if that disappointed her.


	13. Chapter 12: Demon On Wheels

_**Chapter 12: Demon On Wheels**_

"Finally, the last one." Mega Man murmured to himself as he materialized outside of the Tokyo Rubber Disposal Facility. Bass had still been out in stasis when he had left, and so Mega had decided to let him sleep, telling Roll to relay a message to come on after if he awoke soon. Otherwise, Mega would simply be on his own once more. It was familiar, of course, but after the company of his black-armored friend for the rest of the Rebellion, it now seemed a bit lonely as well.

"Face it, old bean, you like it more when you've got company." Mega sighed, then groaned as he heard a rumbling from behind him. Turning around, he glared at the forklift that was driving towards him from behind. "That was _not_ a request, thank you very much." The modified Sniper Joe driving the equipment ignored him, simply adjusting the bandana tied above its eye. The forklift itself bore a slab of steel with the front covered in spikes, and bore down on Mega Man at a fast clip. Rolling his eyes, Mega summoned Rush and flew over the enemy, disposing of the driver with a hail of plasma fire.

"Cute opening act. Let's see how he follows up." Dismissing Rush, the Blue Bomber strolled casually through the front door of the dump's main building. The amount of old tires lying around was astounding; they covered every inch of the floor, although at least they were stacked neatly. Carefully walking across, Mega groaned as he tripped and fell headfirst through another pile. Pulling himself back out and climbing on top of the pile, he began sniping the approaching robots from his vantage point, then set off again once the way was clear. Chains and cranes hanging from the ceiling were surprisingly still active, hauling the tires up one by one to carry off to other parts of the facility; it was a stark contrast to Junk Man's cold indifference. As was the signboard sticking out of the center of a massive, twelve-foot tractor tire.

"Warning-acetylene..." Mega Man read dubiously, going pale as comprehension kicked in. Carefully looking around for robots, he ran from the tire as if it had sprouted missile launchers. Only when he was safely away did he relax enough to growl angrily. "Oh yeah, _real_ funny. Wait until I get my hands on this joker. I'll give ya warning, all right..." Muttering to himself, Mega turned into a stairwell and headed upward. At each landing, there was a stack of spiked radials with a control pod at the top to throw them one by one, eventually launching itself if it ran out. Fortunately, the Blue Bomber's jumping skills were as sharp as ever, and he managed to hurdle the obstacles with little difficulty. It was as he was passing a window that he heard a whistling tune, catching his attention instantly.

"Proto Man." Glancing out the window, Mega saw his elder brother standing on a ledge outside, waving cheerily. Smiling, Mega climbed out. "Been a while, bro. Something up?"

"A couple things." Proto Man glanced out over the sunset, scarf blowing in the wind. "First of all, the view here is kickass."

"I'm hoping the others are slightly more relevant to the situation at hand." Mega said, voice flat. "Not that I mind nice views, but we do have a Rebellion going on. That's fairly important."

"Fine, spoil the mood." Chuckling lightly, Proto Man pulled out a device from behind the shield on his back. To the casual eye, it would simply be a steel tank with a pair of connector cables and a single light, but Mega recognized it easily; Dr. Corbun's Energy Balancer. "Auto said you forgot to pick this up. He's working on your 'Power Fist' already, too."

"Knew I forgot something." Taking the device, Mega smiled. "This should help in Skull Fortress. Thanks, bro."

"Speaking of which, that brings up the other reason I stopped by here." Blues' smile dropped. "I found it. It's probably not gonna surprise you that it's actually not too far from here. Up in northern Japan, on the cliffs of Hokkaido. I was kicking myself for not spotting it there sooner, believe me, but at least we've got it now."

"It was Wily. For all we know, the damn thing was subterranean until recently." Mega shrugged it off. "Like you said, point is, we know now. As soon as Turbo Man here is dust, the two of us and Bass can head in."

"He's coming along, then, is he?" Proto said, bringing the smile back up. "Should have figured, what with him crashing at our place and all. That's the last thing I wanted to let you know; I'm giving his background check a pass. Haven't found anything about where he came from, but I _did_ go through the UN to get all reports on robot-related violence since the last Rebellion, and he hasn't turned up on a single one. He's not exactly hard to mistake for somebody else. That puts his chances of being a Wilybot pretty damn low, I'd say."

"I should hope so, considering he's back there with dad and Roll right now." Mega glanced over the horizon in the direction of their house, though he couldn't actually make it out. "I think he's ready to come along for the ride. It'll be rough, but he needs to be used to the Skull Fortress run in case there are future Rebellions."

"What do you mean, in case there are?" The smile disappeared from Proto Man's features a second time. "That's not gonna happen, bro. We'll slap him back in jail, and this'll be the end of it."

"We said that every other time, too." The younger robot stared into the oversized sunglasses covering his brother's eyes. "We even thought he was dead once. And we were always wrong. I just want to be prepared, just in case. We can never be too careful."

"Ha. All right, I'd be pretty hypocritical if I denied that." Proto Man agreed, clapping his brother on the back. "Just don't get too down, okay? Kick this guy's ass, and then we'll go hand Wily his. I'm going to go check out the defenses on that place. From a safe distance, of course." Saluting, Proto dived off the ledge and was gone.

"Of course." Mega called after him. "Good luck, Blues." Climbing back inside, the Blue Bomber continued making his way up the stairs. At the top, a truly unpleasant sight awaited him; a long hall, with the ceiling and floor both lined with jets of fire that went off in three-second intervals. It was all carefully timed so that with careful sliding he could barely make it through, but only barely. As it was, halfway across he was clipped, and though his armored body didn't actually ignite, the scorching was bad enough.

"Dammit, they're not usually _this_ blatant about screwing around with me..." Mega muttered angrily as he finally slid out from the hall, only to have the floor drop out from under him as a rigged hatch gave way. Screaming curses in a dozen different languages, the Blue Bomber tumbled down a narrow shaft, more jets of fire springing to life as he passed and missing his head by inches every time. It was a hideously overdone display of showmanship, and it brought back bad memories of Quick Man's giant laser maze from the Second. When he saw daylight below him, Mega sighed in relief, only to scream yet another vile oath as he realized he was about to land on the back of a moving flatbed truck.

"That freaking _does it_." Snarling, Mega Man called Rush down and merged into the Super Armor. Making his way to the front of the truck with jet-assisted hops, he dodged missiles that had been decorated with ugly, blocky red faces. Climbing over the truck's cab, he discovered that the front of the vehicle bore a super-sized face identical to the missiles it released from its mouth as it circled the facility. Gritting his teeth, Mega fired his rocket-propelled fist into one eye, then the other, bending the eyebrows as an afterthought. Punching out every single tooth one by one, he ripped open the metal around the mouth, knocked off the ears and flattened the nose. Even after the mangled motor had ground to a halt, he continued rampaging until the truck's face looked like the victim of a stomping by the entire founding membership of the Hells Angels. Glaring at the wreckage, Mega finished by tearing off the license plate, which bore the epitaph "SISI."

"_Right_ then. _That_ felt good. I'll bring this home as a trophy." Mega Man carried the plate with him as he stomped back over to the back of the building where he had fallen from, and through the metal shutter underneath. Disengaging Rush, he handed the license plate to his dog before sending him off, then continued through the second shutter to Turbo Man's lair.

"Well, well, well! Hail the conquering hero!" Dropping from the ceiling, Turbo Man struck three flashy poses in rapid succession. "Just in time, too! Don't want the race to start without you, do you?"

"You know, what would that actually entail?" Mega asked him pointedly, an easy smirk resting on his face. "Starting without me? Wouldn't that mean you'd have nobody to fight but yourself? By all means, go on ahead. I'll watch. And laugh."

"Smart guy. Fast mouth. I like it, I like it." Turbo Man pointed dramatically at his enemy, wraparound sunglasses glinting. "Let's make this one for the record books, huh? Ready-set-GO!" Jumping vertically to the ceiling, he whipped out an arm and released a blazing wheel of fire, somehow shaping the flames into a spinning disc that rolled towards Mega Man.

"Shit!" Mega Man had been prepared for action, but not at the speed at which Turbo Man had moved; the wheel was in his face less than a second after the yell, and then he was on fire, burning, screaming, blazing _pain._ Forcing himself to focus on his weapons, he turned the Freeze Cracker upon himself, then whirled on Turbo Man, who was pointing and laughing.

"Oh, man! _Burned!_"

"Smart mouth. Fast guy." Mega snapped, firing his newest weapon and smiled triumphantly as the Noise Crash threw his enemy back into the wall behind him, shaking violently. "I like it. How about that, first time's the charm. All offense and speed, no defense, huh."

"So what! First one to the finish line's still the winner!" Recovering, Turbo Man crouched, shifted several body parts in ways they shouldn't have been able to move, and huddled on the floor in the shape of a racecar. Laughing wildly, he blasted across the room, realizing too late that Mega Man was already airborne.

"Saw that coming." Mega fired another soundwave, sending Turbo Man sprawling back into his original form. "Literally. The transform give plenty of time to jump."

"Think that's the only trick I've got? You burn me up!" Jumping, Turbo Man spun around and threw the wheel of fire again.

"Right." This time, the Blue Bomber slid under it and nailed his enemy point-blank in the chest. "Thought that would work... eh?" Frowning as he saw Turbo Man giggle, he turned too late and screamed as fire fell upon him from above, the wheel apparently having ran up the wall behind him before falling apart and succumbing to gravity. Another Freeze Cracker to douse the flames brought him back to reality just in time to see Turbo Man rev something, pumping billows of dark smoke from his shoulder exhaust pipes and drawing Mega towards him. Reaching out, the evil racer slammed his enemy's face into the floor.

"Booyah!"

"My good mood is rapidly failing me." Mega growled, shooting Turbo Man again and climbing up. "Time to remedy that." He fired a fifth time, and Turbo Man cringed, then stared as the soundwave passed him, rebounded off a wall, and returned to Mega Man, who caught it in his buster.

"I don't believe it!" Turbo Man pointed a finger, shades falling off to reveal buggy eyes. "You shot _yourself?_ Why did... oh no."

"Oh yeah." Mega Man fired, and the amplified attack shook Turbo Man apart at the seams, already loosened joints coming completely loose and falling apart in a messy pile of arms, legs and wheels. "Phew... man, am I glad that worked. Would have been embarrassing if I had just ended up nailing myself like he thought I would." Watching an arm roll across the floor towards him, the Blue Bomber kicked it out of his way, then frowned. "Still, that wasn't too hard, really. Shade Man was nastier. I didn't manage to save the worst one for last with the first four, either; guess this new four-at-a-time thing of Wily's is messing up my sense of who to avoid. It's a good thing I lived regardless, but still, I hope he doesn't keep it up." Bending over the pile of scrap metal, Mega searched through it until he found the weapons chip and pried it out. Smiling, he shut down the remaining robots, then teleported away, one last thought entering his head before he was gone.

_Hope Bass is ready for Skull Fortress. Now the _real_ fun begins._

* * *

"Morning, sunshine." Roll turned to glance at Bass as he opened his eyes and began looking himself over. "You're a deeper sleeper than Rock is, I see. He's already gone off after the last one without you."

"Why am I not surprised by this." Bass affected an exasperated sigh, while mentally congratulating himself on getting his timing right. "Off to be the hero man, huh. Knowing my luck, the one time I'm not along to keep an eye on him will be the one he screws up with. He'll still win, of course, but that doesn't mean he won't get run over by a car. Repeatedly."

"It's happened before." Roll agreed, casting her eyes heavenward. "Wouldn't be too surprising. The last one usually gives him a lot of trouble, although I have to admit, Turbo Man didn't impress me much on the news."

"Good point." Sitting up, Bass looked around for Treble and found him lying at his feet, still out. Scratching the wolf on his head caused him to wake up instantly. "Where's everybody else, then? _They_ can't still be sleeping at this hour..."

"I'm right here, young man." Dr. Light greeted him cheerfully, carrying a clipboard into the lab. "I was just checking our supplies to make sure we had everything for this. Which we do."

"Good. We can rig them up as soon as they get back, then." Roll glanced at her father with a smile. "That'll help in the Fortress. Shame he'll probably want to get going before we can figure out a way to modify them for our new buddies."

"What now?" Bass asked. "Am I missing something?"

"Upgrades." Roll explained. "For Mega's plasma buster and Rush's armor form. I haven't given up on convincing you to let us help you and Treble out with that, by the way."

"He's the one you have to convince, not me." Bass inclined his head towards Treble. "You'd have to poke around his circuitry a lot more than mine. Get him to agree, and I'll go along too." Treble, looking up at Beat perched on a file cabinet, declined to comment.

"Gee, thanks." Roll looked over at the robot animals. "Now all I have to do is learn how to speak wolf intelligibly. No problem at _all._"

"Glad to be of service." Bass followed her gaze. "So why's birdboy still here? I thought he'd be out with the others."

"He's under house arrest." Dr. Light answered, ignoring Beat's glare. "Grounded until he learns to control those hotheaded tendencies. We don't want Wily birdnapping him _again_, so he stays inside until he figures out not to just blindly charge whenever he wants to."

"Ha. I can sympathize. Tough luck, man." Bass chuckled. "Lemme guess... Auto's probably out with that... thing of his."

"Thing is a good way to describe it." Roll began scanning the clipboard of Dr. Light's notes. "And Eddie's probably with him. This looks pretty good to me, dad." Passing it back to him, she walked back over to Bass. "That just leaves Blues, and who knows where _he_ is right now. He'll probably be back soon, though, so you can meet him yourself."

"Should be fun." Bass scratched the back of his head. _Damn. I should hurry this right along, then; no point in letting a big brother crash the party._ Rising to his feet, he hopped off the table he had been sleeping on and began exploring the lab. "Thanks again for taking me in here, by the way. I know I was stubborn about it, but I really needed it after that job Shade Man did on me." Poking around a workbench, his eyes lit up as he spotted a pair of magnetic clamps. _Perfect._

"It's no problem." Roll wandered over as well. "Careful with that stuff, please. Some of it's kinda breakable."

"What kid of a friend would I be if I busted up your place after you fixed _me_ up? Come on, Roll." Bass laughed cheerfully, looking over his shoulder at the room's layout. Dr. Light had his back to them, working at a computer terminal, and Beat was watching the doctor, still grumpy. Treble was watching Beat, and Roll was next to himself. _Excellent._ Smiling slightly, he looked into her eyes. "We're friends, right?"

"What kind of question is that?" Roll looked away, now a bit embarrassed. "Of course we're friends. You shouldn't need to ask."

"Yeah, you're right. We're friends. I'm sorry." In one swift move, Bass slammed the clamps over her hands, locking them together. "I really am." And then his smile changed, widening to cover nearly half his face.

"What-" Roll's angry yell broke off as soon as she saw the feral grin. Instantly, she recognized it, and in a flash of realization, everything suddenly made sense, far too late. Her eyes darkened, but she couldn't speak, couldn't scream. She could only stare at the hideous distortion of a smile before her, and realize who Bass was, _what_ he was.

_Wily._

But before she could find her voice again, and warn her father, Bass' hand was on her arm. And with that same vicious smile he turned, whipped her over his head, and threw her across the room through the closed window.

"Don't try anything, doc." Bass brought his buster up almost before Roll had flown through the glass out of the house. Light and Beat had both frozen as soon as they had heard the window shatter, and remained so, recognizing the threat instantly. "You either, Beat. One wrong move, either of you, and the doc's a cripple. Two, and you're dead."

"Very well." Dr. Light slowly raised his hands, continuing to face away and glad for that tiny blessing; the fury playing across his features would doubtless only increase his enemy's satisfaction. "It seems you have the upper hand."

"Got that right." Bass continued to grin. "All right, Beat. Go over to that wall safe. Open it up." He inclined his head, and after a moment, the robotic bird did what he said. "Good. Now then, get in there." Beat continued to comply, and Bass slammed it shut after him. "That's a good boy. You keep on holding still, doc. Treble, get that clipboard, huh?"

"They won't do anything for you." Dr. Light bluffed as Treble grabbed what he had been working on. "I specifically designed them only to work for Mega Man and Rush."

"Really?" Bass whistled, grabbing the notes in his free hand and thumbing through them. "Funny. Thought I just heard Roll suggest rigging them up for us just a few minutes ago. If you can do that, than _my_ old man should be able to do the same. Thanks for the Christmas presents, doc." Walking over, he roughly shoved the old man to the ground, than casually ripped the legs off of a heavy metal table and dropping it on his back. "There you go. That'll keep you from going anywhere."

"What are you going to do?" Dr. Light demanded. "Isn't this enough for you, Wilybot?" The last word was snarled out like a curse, but Bass just bent down in front of him.

"Wilybot, huh? Bit inaccurate." He jabbed the old man with a light punch that still slammed his head aside. "The others are Wilybots. I am the son of Wily. And I'm going to kill your boy Rock. Have fun with him when he comes back here. It's the last time you'll see him." Standing back up, he walked over to a computer, and kicked the screen in. "As for your question, _I'm_ going to _have my _fun here and now. Business before pleasure, but that's done, so why not?" Relaxing his buster arm, he proceeded to tear the laboratory apart with his hands and feet alone. The more expensive it looked, the more damage he did, ripping and tearing gleefully. When the room looked sufficiently trashed, he moved on to the outside hall, then down the stairs to the living room. Laughing as he tossed the armchair through the television screen, he then watched Treble pull the couch apart, finishing by criticizing the paintings on the walls. The kitchen was even more fun; on a whim, he put the toaster into the microwave and applauded the result before turning to the knives. It was only when he finished there that he saw the sealed hatch to the secondary lab on the side of the house.

"Oh yeah, that thing... wonder what the hell this is supposed to be?" Shrugging, Bass blasted the door down and walked on in. "Another lab? Either the old man's just being silly, or what's in here is _secret_. I like, I like." Pulling open a file cabinet, he glanced over the paperwork inside. "Huh. Some sort of new Robot Master? Dunno what's so special about this." Shrugging, he grabbed a few random fistfuls out of other drawers, then kicked the cabinet over onto the computer in the room. "Right, that oughta do it." Stretching, he and Treble strolled out towards the door and ripped it off its hinges, walking out onto the lawn.

Roll was waiting for them.

"Bastard." She whispered, barely audible. "Friends, huh." Broken glass lay around her feet, embedded in her synthskin, but no blood was spilled from a robot. The fall had done nothing more, and she had risen to her feet without difficulty, though her hands were still bound. Her head was lowered, staring at the ground; raising it would have meant seeing the wreckage of her home, and the false friend who had done it.

"Hey, I said I was sorry. What more do you want?" Bass shrugged it off with a whistle, handing the notes to Treble. "Go on, get outta here. I'll just be a moment more." Obligingly, Treble teleported away, leaving them there.

"I help you out. Bring you into my home. Repair your injuries." Roll hissed, still unable to raise her eyes to meet his gaze. "And this is how you repay me."

"I'm the bad guy, Roll. S'what I do." Bass sighed. "Look, it's not your fault. This was all decided back at the start of the Rebellion, okay? It's not about you."

"It never is. Never was." Now Roll began walking towards him, slow and steady. "So what, then? I'm supposed to just stand back and watch, and do nothing?"

"Pretty much." Sighing, Bass raised his buster. "I could have just killed you, you know. Nothing stopping me. I didn't because I really do kind of like you. But if you try and fight me, I _will_ kill you. You know I will." He closed his eyes for a moment in pity, but the savage smile remained. "So cut it out, yeah? Third Law and all that."

"Third Law..." Roll echoed, the blazing red letters appearing her vision.

A ROBOT MUST ACT TO PRESERVE ITS OWN EXISTENCE, UNLESS DOING SO CONFLICTS WITH THE FIRST AND/OR SECOND LAWS

"Third Law..." She said it again, her steps beginning to slow as the Law gripped her mind. Finally, she looked up. Before her, her home in ruins, destroyed _again_ by the family of Wily. Once by the old man himself, twice by Doc Man, and now the newest enemy of all. Seeing the triumph flash in his eyes at her slowing pace, she could almost see the same twisted grin on his father, on his brother, as they came again and again. And every time, _every damn time_, she was helpless. Her pace picked up. The bound arms rose. As the words in her mind vanished, Roll drove her locked fists into Bass' jaw with a hammerblow that snapped his head back with a crack that rang in her ears. And she knew that something had _changed_, and would never come back.

"_Fuck_ the Third Law_._" She hissed, staring up at him and waiting for what she no longer cared about. But it did not come. Bass did not fire. He simply raised a hand to his cheek and then lowered his head, the smile gone. He stared at her, eyes wide in astonishment. And in fear.

"What? You..." Bass whispered. It made no sense, it was impossible, it was _wrong_, but it was happening. "No. No. You can't-Third Law-how?"

"Fuck you, too." Roll hit him again, this time a blow to his right cheek, and then again to the left. "My life is _mine_, and I decide what I do with it. Not you, not your father, not _my_ father. Nobody_._ I'm not going to be _helpless_ any more. Never again."

"But you can't-" Bass choked, not even responding to the abuse his body was taking. "You can't just do that. You can't!" Finally grabbing Roll's hands in his own to halt the rain of attacks, he stared up at her, trembling. "You can't _do _that, Roll!"

"Watch me." Roll kicked at his leg.

"No... no." Throwing her away from him, Bass clutched his head. "Dad told me! He _told_ me!" He was pleading now, begging her for an answer, something that would make sense. "He said the Laws were impossible to break!"

"He did, huh?" Roll regained her footing, but didn't advance again; her rage draining as the tables turned. Now, she looked at the robot before her with pity for just a moment, then sneered in contempt. "You took _Dr. Wily_'s word at face value, Bass?"

The color drained from Bass' face, and he took a step back... and then he was gone, teleporting away, running from the first thing that had ever cracked his view of the world. And Roll was left there, alone before the broken ruins of her home, still bound, still damaged, still unable to do anything more. Were she human, she would have cried. But robots could not cry, any more than they could eat, or breathe. And so Roll simply walked back inside, looking for her father.

Despite her words, it was all she could do. Nothing more.


	14. Chapter 13: Family Matters

_**Chapter 13: Family Matters**_

_This was home when I left... now it looks like a bomb hit._

Some small part of Mega Man's mind managed to make that observation, somehow, through the blind horror and disbelief that overwhelmed the rest of him. Broken glass covered the lawn, smoke rose from the window it came from as well as a dozen other places. Stepping over the ripped-off front door, Mega slowly walked through the ruins of his home, unable to think until a voice broke through his stupor.

"Help me out of these, will you?" It was Roll, leaning against the wall of the totaled living room. Her wrists were bound in a set of magnetic clamps, and she had dozens of tiny nicks over her synthskin, but there didn't seem to be any serious damage.

"Thank God..." Mega sighed in relief, crossing to her and grabbing the ends of the clamps. "On three. One, two, go." Both of them straining hydraulic systems, they finally managed to tear the mechanism apart. Throwing the scrap metal away, the Blue Bomber looked around for more movement and found none. "The others. How are they?"

"They're fine." Roll slumped against him, then pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "Seemed like forever until you'd get back, all the same... God, I missed you. And yet, it all happened so fast when it was going on. Figures, huh? Auto's on his way too. Dad's upstairs, in the lab... it's wrecked too."

"Whoever did this got into the lab?" Mega froze, then pulled away. "Who did this?"

"Who do you think?" Roll muttered quietly, dropping her gaze.

"Dammit... Bass!" Going past her, Mega Man ran up the stairs and into the lab. There, Dr. Light was on his knees, struggling to lift a fallen monitor. Grabbing it, Mega raised it for him, and the doctor dropped his hands, remaining on the floor. Like the rest of the house, the lab was completely wrecked; curiously, only the television remained untouched, inanely continuing to blare a news bulletin. At least it had been muted, Mega noted idly as he stared down at his father. "Dad, are you..."

"I'm okay... I'm okay." Sighing, Dr. Light managed to pull himself back to his feet. "I'm just old, Rock. It happens to everybody. But I'm not hurt, much."

"Good... but where's Bass?" Mega looked around frantically for any trace of his friend. "Dammit, if Wily's hurt him, I'll-"

"Rock." Dr. Light said firmly, staring straight at his son. "Bass was the one who did all of this to us."

"What?" Blankly, Mega stared at the wall for a moment before turning back to his father. "What do you mean, he..." Falling silent in sudden comprehension, he froze again.

"We repaired him, and he woke up... and went berserk." Dr. Light continued to recount, dropping into a chair that had somehow avoided being dismantled. "I think Roll tried to stop him, but by the time I saw, Bass already had those magnetic clamps on her arms. I couldn't get them off. Pushed me to the ground, and then ran around like a madman, just smashing everything he saw."

"Roll's okay." Mega reassured him. "I got those off of her. So... he wrecked the house, but didn't kill you two..."

"That wasn't all." Dr. Light said with a tremor in his voice. "The plans for those upgrades, for you and Rush... he stole them."

"Oh, damn it _all._" Mega closed his eyes.

"And downstairs..." Now the tremor was spreading to the old doctor's body. "He found them... he took... he took..."

"What did he-" Mega started to ask, then broke off as the television screen suddenly fuzzed out into static for a moment. Dr. Light noticed as well, and the conversation was immediately forgotten; both knew all too well what this meant. Sure enough, when the image returned it was no longer the broadcast.

By now, it was practically iconic; instantly recognizable, anywhere. The old man sat behind the desk, a single light shining down from above his head the only one in the room. Behind him, the wall with his logo engraved upon it, a circle with a W in it, and a much smaller "Dr." in one corner. The man behind the desk wore a lab coat over a plain button shirt and tie; his desk held a few papers and a telephone. His iron-grey hair was wild and bushy in the sides and back, with a bald spot in front that had come in his early years and then halted. A medium mustache twitched above a confident smile that was restrained at the moment, not yet stretched to full capacity. Only the eyes reflected what this man truly was capable of; dancing, darting wildly, not so much looking everywhere as moving intentionally to give the effect of distorted, irregular pupils. And then they focused, and it was all the worse for the absolute lack of care for what he saw.

Only one thing was different this time. The old man was not alone now. Another stood at his side, behind the desk. Tall for a Robot Master but still shorter than almost all humans, this one was clad in heavy black armor bonded to every seam of his torso and limbs. The helmet bore twin yellow fins, with a blue star between them that matched the one in his chest. Glaring red eyes stared firmly out over purple bands on his cheeks, unmoving with a flat fixation that belied his father's frenzied pupils. The smile, however, was the same. The third one was a purple-and-white wolf, robotic as well, who lay on his haunches in front of the desk. Unlike the other two, he did not regard the camera; he simply bided his time, and waited.

"Greetings, world. And all of you who live on it." Dr. Wily said, voice dripping with contempt. "I must apologize for keeping you all waiting. I know you've all been eagerly waiting for me to explain the little difficulties my funny robots have been causing you, but this time I decided to try a little experiment. Stay silent, and see if by now, my Rebellion spoke for itself. It seems I was successful in that regard. However, that has passed. It would seem that little Rock... oops!" He covered his mouth in faux embarrassment. "I forgot, this is on the air. Little _Mega Man_, to use his stage name, then... has manged to kill off eight more Robot Masters, and put a brake on the latest kill count. But that's customary by now, isn't it? They kill you, he kills them, song and dance, buy the action figures. It did, however, distract him from something else that was going on."

"He's in fine form today." Dr. Light muttered angrily, eyes locked to the screen along with those of his children. "Wily must have really been looking forward to this one."

"Oh, where _are_ my manners?" Wily slapped his forehead. "I forgot to introduce us! My name... well, that doesn't really need saying by now, does it? On the other hand, this is the first time my friends here have been on the air. I'm quite remiss in not introducing them properly, aren't I? Please forgive me, boys. Boys, girls, others of indeterminate gender, please allow me to introduce Bass and Treble. These two are my greatest creations yet. Bass, be a good boy and tell the viewers what you've been up to."

"Of course, dad." Bass chuckled. "I've been doing good, actually. Being a hero. Helping out, saving lives, that sort of thing. Out of character considering my origins, wouldn't you say? But it was for a good cause, people. It was for Mega Man. So I could gain his respect, and trust, and all that sappy lah-de-dah. He kindly invited me into his home yesterday, and when he went off to finish his hit list, I paid him back." The robot's face remained eerily calm with only a marginal smile as he continued to speak. "I remodeled his house for him. Gave his dad some advice on his health. Oh, and took a few liberties with his sister, while I was at it."

The words Roll used in response to _that_ were both anatomically impossible and highly unrecommended, considering the physical structure and temperament of most bears.

"That wasn't all, though." Bass continued blithely, unaware of the verbal thrashing he was receiving. Picking up one of the papers on the desk, he displayed it proudly to the camera. "Nice, isn't it? Of course, it probably doesn't mean anything to most of you simpletons, so I'll explain. These here are upgrades to your hero and his Scooby Doo, designed by Doc Light. Except since I stole them, now _my_ dad's going to be applying them to me and Treble instead. Isn't that nice? In other words, viewers... we will be better, faster, stronger than your heroes. Oh, I forgot. We already _were._" He tossed his head, practically glowing with arrogant pride. "This just widens the gap even further."

"Well then. I believe that's what we call 'throwing down the gauntlet,' wouldn't you say, viewers?" Dr. Wily remarked with deceptive mildness. "Bass and Treble-and I as well, of course-will all be waiting for you, Mega Man. Along with all your other friends from this Rebellion. I'm sure your brother Blues has already told you where we've set up shop this time. He has to have seen it by _now_. We'll leave the light on for you. And now that I've said what I need to you, I believe I owe a little... explanation to the people of the world. I've put them through so much, after all." Closing his eyes, Dr. Wily paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. Exhaling, he continued, still quiet and calm in his words.

"This is the Seventh Robot Rebellion, my friends. Seven times now, I have led my robot armies all over this planet, killing and destroying. And through all seven, the innocent have always had one question for me, always begged me for one little explanation. Why, they ask? Why does one of the heroes of the Second Rainbow do this to them? Why do they have to suffer so, to watch their family and friends die before their eyes? Why do they deserve this from me?" Another pause, and now, finally, the lunatic grin came out. Baring his teeth fully now, Dr. Wily stared out at the world he held in thrall despite all of Mega Man's efforts.

"Such a _stupid_ question. Do you ask a earthquake 'why?' Do you ask a tornado? A flood? Would you ask an inferno why, or a blizzard? Do you beg for reason from a thunderstorm?" A finger raised, dramatically. "Oh, but I am human, not an act of nature, you say. I must have reason, must have thought behind it all." He lowered the finger to point at the camera. "Is that really true? Tell me, all you people out there. What do you see now, inside your minds, when you hear my name? When you hear somebody speak of Dr. Wily? Do you see an old man, one human man, pulling all the strings? Or do you see, do you think of what I bring along with me? Rampage and mass murder, the whole world all at once, over and over again... _unstoppable._ Oh, Mega Man can clean them up after the fact. But by that time, the damage is already done. Not even he can stop them in the act. And not even he can prevent them from happening again, and again, and _again_. I'm quite looking forward to the day Robot Rebellions start showing up in the newspaper horoscopes." Placing both hands flat on his desk, Wily pushed himself up to his feet and forward, leaning over it towards the camera. Slowly, his head rotated one way, then the other, still locked in a mad grin.

"I will give you advice, humans and robots of the world. Don't fall into denial again. Prepare for the Rebellions, prepare to defend yourselves, and maybe you will survive. Because they will keep coming. This seventh, when all were convinced I was brought down at last, should now convince you of the exact opposite. I am no longer simply a human named Dr. Wily. I am a fact of life now, a fear in the minds of millions. I am the past, present and future, cutting lives short without reason, without rationale." Closing his eyes, his voice dropped to a whisper as he leaned back and stood, straight-backed and strong while the light above him began to fade out. "_Why_, you ask me? Because that is what I _am_, viewers. I am become death... the destroyer of worlds."

"Rock." Dr. Light turned quietly to his son, who had remained absolutely motionless throughout the broadcast, unlike the other two. Before, he had always shown rage to his enemies' public displays. This time... nothing. "Rock, you don't have to do this. Darwin can call in the United Nations' armies, they can attack the Skull Fortress-"

"They _tried_ that already." Mega Man slowly turned his head to look at his father, and the old man took a step back in shock. Though the face was calm and blank, the robot's eyes were blazing, glowing with an electric blue brightness. Slowly, his lip curled in a snarl, but his voice remained cold-and that frightened Dr. Light in a way that all the explosive angers of the past had never done. "In the First. We saw the armies try. And they all died. Numbers can't bring down a Skull Fortress. There's only one thing that can do that. Like always... it's up to me."

"But..." Dr. Light stammered, at a loss for words. Before, he had felt sympathy for his son's plight. Sadness, when he saw the deaths. Anger, when he thought of the man who had put his boy through this. Relief, when he thought it was over, that his son could rest. But now, for the first time, Dr. Light felt fear as his greatest creation spoke.

"I don't enjoy this. Not any more than you do." Mega continued, pinning his father in place with his gaze. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is facts. And the fact is, I can't let him kill anybody else. I can't let even one death happen that I could do something to stop. I have to save as many lives as I can, dad... no matter what I have to do." Before him, between his face and his father's, he saw the words appear again, as they had so many times. "The First Law defines that."

A ROBOT MUST NOT HARM, OR THROUGH INACTION CAUSE HARM TO COME TO, A HUMAN BEING

"The First Law defines..." For a moment, the mask of hatred crumbled, and Rock was just a young boy, trapped in an endless nightmare. "And I have no say in the matter at all."

"Oh, God." Dr. Light hugged him, and Rock let the moment ride, let his father embrace him in a sorrow they both felt to the core. "I'm so sorry, Rock... I'm so sorry this had to happen to you. To all of you."

"Speaking of which." Mega Man pulled away after a moment, anger rising once more. "Any word from Proto Man?"

"Yeah... he sent a text message as soon as the broadcast ended." Roll, like her father, had seen the change coming over Mega. She, however, had simply watched and waited for him to speak to her; there was nothing she could say on the matter that had not already been said. Emotionally and physically drained after the ordeals of the day, she was almost falling to her feet in stasis, even as she spoke. "He said to meet him at Shade Man's. Didn't say why. Insisted."

"He chooses now, of all time, to play his games?" Mega Man hissed from between clenched teeth. "What is he... no. Waste of time to try and understand him. I almost want to just go without him... but no. He's explaining himself." Turning away from Dr. Light, he looked at his sister. "As soon as Auto gets here, go into stasis, Roll. You need it. Until then, protect him. Dad, fix her up when she does." He paused. "Depending on how this goes, me and Proto might come back here. If not... then get some sleep yourself, and don't worry. It always ends the same way." Without waiting for a response from either of them, he was gone, in a streak of light.

* * *

To further Mega Man's aggravation even more, the zombie robots in Shade Man's lair had been reactivated by Proto Man, lurching towards Mega once more as he touched down. At least they were silent now; the elder son of Light had apparently had the decency to disable the voices. All the same, slagging mindless zombies didn't do anything to soothe Mega Man's anger. Neither did the brightly colored neon arrows painted on the walls, pointing the way into the Grand Theater's basement. There, in an empty room, he found Proto Man leaning against a wall casually.

"You know, I've always thought it would really suit my look better if I was smoking a cigarette when I do this." Proto said by way of greeting. "Damn shame I can't actually smoke, really. Oh well, can't have it all."

"Cut the clown act, brother." Mega Man snapped impatiently. "You know what happened back home."

"I found out, yeah." Proto admitted, losing his usual carefree smirk. "By the time I did, though, he was already gone. Saw Wily's little show too. Ratings on that can't be too high."

"So then why are we wasting time here?" The Blue Bomber demanded. "We should already be heading into Skull Fortress!"

"Because a thought occurred to me." Proto Man stood, drawing his Proto Shield from his back. Oval and white with red trim and a viewing slot near the top, it was built of some mixed alloys that apparently exceeded even the strongest known titaniums in durability. Even Mega's charged shots wouldn't leave a scratch or a scorch mark. Aside from his scarf, it was Proto Man's most valuable possession. "It's been a long time since you and me tested each other's strength. I think it's about time we did that again to see how much we've both improved since the Third."

"You can _not_ be serious." Mega Man stared at his brother's face and saw not a hint of humor. "You _are_ serious. I don't believe this. Now? _Now_, of all times, you pull this shit. You know what? _Fine._" Charging his Buster, he let a high shot fly, aimed at the top of his brother's head peeking over the shield's edge. "I've had enough. You want to get your ass kicked, I'll oblige!"

"Gee, how generous." Raising the shield upwards and deflecting the shot towards the ceiling, Proto Man grimly fired his own shot. "Confident, too. Let's see you back it up!" The charged shot from his buster was elongated, a stream of plasma six feet in length and every bit as wide as Mega's.

"Count on it." Running straight at the shot, the Blue Bomber leaped at the last second and barely managed to clear it. Landing, he fired again, but Proto Man was already in action, moving into a series of ceiling-touching hops while firing a plasma bullet at the height of each. The first tagged Mega, but afterwards he was able to dodge and return fire, easily nailing his brother repeatedly in the air.

"Not bad." Chuckling, Proto Man began moving his shield to block the shots, then fired a spray burst that tagged his brother twice. Landing, he started cockily shooting from the hip, then suddenly charged, shield in front of him like a jouster.

"Oh, no you don't." Mega slid away, keeping his distance; previous brawls had taught him that his elder brother held the advantage in physical sparring. Charging another shot, he jumped over his brother and fired from the rear.

"Gotcha." At the same time, Proto Man's buster whipped around and fired his own charged shot at the spot where Mega's jump would end. Both shots streaked home, and both robots went flying, skidding painfully across the ground and crashing into opposite walls. Proto rose first, rubbing a bit of ash off of his cheek and smirking. "Nice shot."

"Same to you." Mega Man gave him a clipped smile back for a moment only as he rose, then swapped colors, assuming the red and silver colors of the Scorch Wheel; an eerie parallel to his brother's armor. "Hope you're ready to turn this up a notch."

"Oh, I am." Tapping his shades meaningfully, Proto Man selected his own weapon; purple and white. Dodging the wheel of fire, he activated his Buster, emitting not a projectile, but a blinding flash of light. Howling, Mega Man clutched at his eyes and fired again blindly, but Proto Man brushed the flames aside with a shield-toss as he charged headlong.

"Bright Man's... weapon?" Mega realized, trying in vain to avoid his brother.

"I came prepared." Closing in, Proto grabbed Mega by the side of his head, whirled, and slammed him face-first into the wall with a sickening thud. "The boys back at Cossack's were glad to contribute-eh?" He blinked as Mega's armor changed color. Firing behind him, Mega hit Proto point-blank with a freezing iceball, solidifying him.

"If I'm not moving, neither are you." Groaning woozily, Mega rubbed his eyes and smiled faintly as his sight began to return. Turning to regard his frozen brother, he dropped the smile when he saw it mirrored on Proto Man's face.

"Surprise."

The high-powered bomb with a drill-tipped projectile missed Mega Man due to his last-second dodge, but its detonation was not so forgiving, blasting both robots off their feet.

"You're insane!" Mega yelled angrily.

"Yeah." Shrugging, Proto fired another. "So?"

"Man oh man..." Scrambling away, Mega carefully fired and absorbed a Noise Crash wave. When he saw his brother fire again, he met the missile with the charged sonic boom. Passing through bomb, shield and robot each in turn, the attack destroyed the first, shook the second and rattled the third.

"_Not_ cool!" Proto Man yelled, apparently annoyed at the penetration of his shield. "No more of that! Try that _now!_" A spherical force-field appeared around him, blue energy shimmering in a skull pattern.

"Damn." Whirling, Mega Man took off sliding; his brother ran right behind him, several laps around the room. Reviewing his options, Mega tried to figure out what would punch through the barrier.

"Here, boy! Here, boy!" Proto Man taunted, keeping up the chase.

"_Fetch_, doggy." Charging, Mega Man released the more powerful Wild Coil, steel spiked springs containing a plasma charge. This canceled out the force field, leaving the projectile itself to slam Proto Man to a halt as it wrapped around his shield, gouging the hand.

"That one bites, bro!" Raising the shield overhead, Proto slammed his brother with it while returning his Buster to a hand which gripped a bladed ring. Slicing the spring off of him, he threw it towards Mega.

"Oh, no you don't." Returning to the Scorch Wheel, Mega Man hurled the circle of fire. Passing over the Ring Boomerang, it continued on to engulf a surprised Proto Man in flames. The boomerang, however, continued on its path despite being heated, and lodged in Mega's shoulder. Wincing, he pried it out while his brother rolled on the ground.

"I'd call that one a draw." Proto Man chuckled wryly as they both rose again, now moving more slowly but still ready to go. "About time I pulled out the big gun, then." Raising his Buster again, he began tossing out spheres of bright orange energy, slower than plasma fire but burning holes into the walls as Mega dodged.

"Pharaoh Shot." Mega nodded, waiting for his brother to pause. Sure enough, he did, and Mega immediately hit him with a thunderbolt. Stunned, Proto Man released the charge he had been building involuntarily, and Mega easily skipped past the massive crescent blast, wincing as it completely destroyed the door to the room. "The Pharaoh Wave's strong, all right. But I'm not going to let you tag me with it."

"Fine, then. Be a spoilsport." Harrumphing, Proto Man aimed his Buster skyward as his armor flickered green and white. As the pod of acid launched towards the ceiling, he grinned. "Two can play that game."

"Fighting dirty-dammit, _ow._" Mega writhed as the pod burst, raining over him. "I'll get you for that one, bro!"

"Feel free to try!" Proto Man said, preparing to fire another pod, then blinking as his brother charged. He was already firing, though, and couldn't stop himself, even as the Danger Wrap engulfed him. A few painful moments later, he landed on his brother, and instantly administered a painful headbutt.

"Hey, you told me to do that!" Mega groaned, rolling away. An explosion jolted him back to his feet with a yelp and he slid away, but the missile Proto Man launched followed his path. A barrier of junk, however, was more successful in keeping it away. "Shall we keep at this all day?"

"Let's not." Proto Man threw a hunk of junk of his own into the rotating barrier. The rotating pieces clung to it, lumping up, and fell from their paths as the mass increased too much to continue. "Well?"

"As if this is any surprise." Sighing, Mega Man ran forward. "Always have to be the drama queen... fine." Reaching his brother, he slashed him across the chest with a clawed gauntlet, knocking him down. Looking down at the fallen Proto Man, he raised an eyebrow. "That's all eight. Are we quite done here?"

"Well, that depends, really." Proto Man said easily, climbing back to his feet but making no further move to attack. "How are you feeling?"

"Irritated at you for this." Mega answered automatically, then gave in and smiled. "Actually, beating the crap out of you always helps that, so not any more, really. Not bad, actually. Tired, though. Just want to get back, get ready, and get going if it's all the same."

"Then my work is done." Proto Man examined his scarf for damage, found none, and relaxed. "Getting rid of your stress is worth a beating, I'd say. Besides, it was fun, huh?"

"Yeah-wait a second here." The Blue Bomber's eyes narrowed. "Is _that_ while you started this, here?"

"You looked like you needed it." Proto shrugged easily. "I get the feeling you'll want to have your head clear this time. I never met Bass myself, so I'm withholding judgment... but I stand by what I said earlier." Glancing at the door, he dropped his smile. "Wilybot he may be, but I'd bet my shades that he hasn't killed a single human yet. And he did a lot less to dad and Roll than he could have. Whether that changes things or not is up to you."

"Do you think it should?" Mega asked him quietly.

"I can't answer that, bro." Proto Man continued to look away from him. "You're the one with the earthshaking reputation. I'm just a flunky. I'm along for comic relief. Whatever you decide, though, now you can do it right." The jokes were made in unwavering tones, and he finally turned to face Mega. "I get an odd feeling about this time. I don't know what it is, but something just feels different. Be careful, bro..." He paused, then sighed and tossed his Proto Shield onto the floor between them. "And take this with you."

"What?" For once, Mega was struck absolutely dumb. Ever since he had met his brother, the elder son of Light had never parted from the shield when a Rebellion was on. Now, it had been surrendered willingly. "Blues, this is... I can't take this from you."

"You can and you will." Proto told him firmly. "You're the one who'll be in the most danger. You take it. I'll be fine coming behind you as backup." The dim light in the ceiling flickered, causing the reflections off his shades to do the same. "This isn't up for negotiation. Take the shield, or I'll make what we just went through look like a warmup."

"Fine." Picking the shield up, Mega nodded slowly. "Just as long as you don't try to make me take the scarf or shades. You do, and I'll be scared."

"Screw _that._ Be lucky I'm feeling _this_ generous." Crossing over, Proto Man pulled his brother's helmet off and ruffled his hair. "Now come on, let's get back home like you said. We've got to get patched up, and after that, it's time we had a long, long talk with a few gentlemen of our acquaintance about their recent behavior."

* * *

Sitting in his chair, in the center of his command chamber, Albert Wily tapped away contentedly at a keyboard, preparing for the imminent assault. Around him, Skull Fortress VII was ready for anything. Three rings of defenses before the final vertical shaft leading down into the heart of the monster, each one filled with hundreds of sentry robots and dominated by a massive Fortress Guardian. Replicas of all eight Robot Masters had been built, and now waited in the final shaft, quietly biding their time until their return to the grave. Wily's personal vehicles of war were sleeping only a few rooms away, more terrible than ever. That left only the other occupants of the room, one of which was watching quietly. The other was more restless, and had paced the room several times, stopping only to tap his foot idly before walking around again. After about an hour of this, Wily finally glanced up from the screen before him.

"All right, spit it out, boy. Whatever it is that's got you so antsy, I'm tired of it."

"What?" Bass jumped, startled. "Oh, uh..." Looking away, he bit his lip. "Forget it. It's not worth troubling you over." The upgrades had been installed, both in him and in Treble, and he had feigned confidence and contempt during the television broadcast; such was his duty. Now, though, he had nothing to do but wait, and brood.

"How considerate of you." Wily drawled. "Now, you only need invent a time machine and inform yourself of that an hour ago. I'll repeat myself. Tell me what's wrong. That's an _order_, robot."

A ROBOT MUST OBEY ITS MASTER, DR. ALBERT WILY

"Yes, sir." Bass muttered, ignoring the bright red words as they appeared. "Dad. Why did you lie to me?"

"Why did I..." Wily said, surprised, then realized Bass' meaning. "Oh. You mean about the laws of robotics." Pausing, he thought things over, eyes narrowing. Finally, the old man rose from the chair, walked over and patted his creation firmly on the head. "Is _that_ all? You've worried this long over something like that?"

"Well... yeah?" Bass blinked, confused even more. "I mean... it's the _Laws_, dad. Those're kind of important, yanno?" Far from being reassuring, this new mood in his father disturbed him on some deep level; Wily had never acted like this before, and it seemed unnatural that he do so now, even considering the situation.

"Of course. That's why." Wily told him, now draping his arm over Bass' shoulder. "Bass, my boy, you're only six months old. If I had told you about that right off the bat, what could would it have done? It just would have confused you worse then, and that's no good at all, now is it?" The smile he wore was calm and cheerful, completely unlike any of his normal expressions. "Confusion is for the weak, Bass. And you're not weak. You're _strong._"

"Yeah... yeah, I am." Bass smiled as well, falling back into the comfortable familiarity of his beliefs despite seeing his father like this. "I'm strong. And you just didn't want to mess with that. That's all."

"Exactly." Wily began walking back to his computer. "Now then, are you feeling better? You have to be ready for your big moment, after all. It's coming, Bass. The reason for your existence."

"I'm ready, father. I promise. I'm strong. I'll kill him." Bass vowed. "Mega Man is nothing compared to me. I've seen that clearly now."

"I'll give you a splendid funeral, then." Wily said dryly, returning to his normal mode of behavior. "Don't be stupid, boy. Six times, I've poured everything I have into Robot Rebellions. I've shaken the world, killed millions, and that one robot destroyed it all, every time. My Wilymachines, the Robot Masters, Gamma... they all fell. Underestimate him, and I'll be burying you as well." Spreading his arms wide, the old man hung his head. "All of this here is nothing new to him, Bass. He's seen it all before. You're the only new element. Take advantage of that."

"You're afraid of him." Bass whispered, eyes widening in sudden realization. "You're afraid of that guy. I didn't think you knew how."

"I was human once, you know. In mind as well as in body." Wily lowered his hands and stared at them; all of a sudden, they seemed frail and weak with age. He had never really noticed that before. "Old habits die hard, and the end of the Fifth in particular was... troublesome."

"Count on me, then. I won't take him lightly. I'll pull out all the stops, and I'll kill him." Bass promised once again, then paused, a new element of uncertainty suddenly realized. "But what happens after that, dad? If that's my purpose, then what reason do I have to exist afterwards?"

"You'll find a new purpose, of course." Wily shrugged, sitting down and facing away. Glancing down at the papers Bass had brought, he thought about looking through whatever additional notes the black robot had stolen aside from the upgrades, but decided against it. There would be time for that later, after the Rebellion.

"I'll have a new purpose? What is it, father?" Bass demanded eagerly.

"You're strong, robot." Wily said, clenching his fist in frustration, but keeping that concealed. "Don't ask me for a purpose. Find it yourself."

"Yes, sir." Bass slowly nodded, then turned and walked out, Treble padding quietly behind him. Together, they rode elevators to the top of the Skull Fortress, emerging through a secret door out onto the rooftop. Walking to the southern edge of the building, Bass looked out over the waters separating Hokkaido from the rest of Japan. This far away, even a robot's enhanced senses couldn't see what he looked for... but it was there nonetheless.

"Find my purpose." Bass murmured again, face blank and eyes confused. "What could I do? All I have is my strength." He thought it over. Raising an arm, he converted it into a Buster, and smiled, slow and wide and terrible. "My purpose? My purpose is _now._" The charged shot flew across the sea, a green blaze of energy, and Bass spoke a single word more, eyes fixated on his destiny.

"_Come._"


	15. Chapter 14: The Black Wind Howls

_**Chapter 14: The Black Wind Howls**_

"All right, everybody. Time to plan." Mega Man sat at the kitchen table, helmet in front of him on its surface. The rest of his family sat around it, all of then looking down at pictures Proto Man had taken of Skull Fortress VII from all sides. Auto looked furious, Roll resigned; Proto Man was thoughtful, and Dr. Light tired. Eddie, Beat and Rush all waited patiently for instructions, occasionally firing off a burst of binary to one another.

The latest in the series of Skull Fortresses was a bleak, businesslike affair, much more restrained than the last few. Those had been overly showy and in generally horrible taste, the colors growing brighter and more clashing each time. Seemingly designed at random, they had had multiple ungainly towers, pyramids and the like crammed haphazardly behind a fortification wall. This time, though, the fortress was all one building-a cylinder that rose about two hundred feet before dividing into three towers. The two in the sides at the rear were crowned by arrays of anti-aircraft cannons, while the frontal spire bore the insignia that had given the buildings their names-a mile-wide metal plate in the shape of a skull, with the Dr. W emblem in the forehead. Overhead shots showed a fifty-foot spiked moat around the entire building, with the only bridge leading straight to the front door.

"He's learning." Mega Man summed up the situation with an annoyed grunt. "There's only one way in there on foot, and it's the obvious route. No weak points to bomb open an alternate route, no hints as to the interior layout..." Grimacing, he leaned back in his chair. "This one'll be tough to crack. I'm open to suggestions, because right now I can't see any other plans except full frontal assault, and I don't like that at all."

"Allow me, then." Proto Man leaned over the table. "Now then. _Our_ full frontal assault has one major advantage most wouldn't. After six Skull Fortresses, Wily will never take it at face value. He knows we like more complicated plans. So this time, we fake him out in a _new_ way." He pointed towards the frontal shot of the Fortress. "Mega Man goes in first. Start using the Scorch Wheel, and see if you can rig up something that looks like my scarf and shades. I'm not giving you the real ones, but you should be able to find semi-convincing fakes. With those and my Shield, Wily will think you're me, and wait for a second strike."

"At which point you hit from behind?" Mega guessed. "Riding that giant Moth of yours?"

"Wrongo." Proto Man brought his hand up to point at Auto. "Auto here takes Mothman instead. We can give him a temporary paintjob to match mine, and with him riding on Mothman's back, Wily won't be able to see him clearly. It'll take the old man a while to catch on. _That_ should confuse him, and he'll likely send the bulk of his defenses out to meet Auto. Meanwhile, I slip inside through the front door, following your path for a while before breaking off. My job will be to poke around inside and find the self-destruct mechanism, so I can shut it off like last time. That sort of thing always gave Wily the opportunity for unpleasant surprises, and we do _not_ want him getting away again. Auto, your job is to divert as much firepower for as long as you can. Fly low so those big tower cannons can't blow you out of the sky."

"I don't know if he's ready to go along just yet." Mega frowned.

"Don't shit me like that." Auto growled. "I missed everything back here. I didn't even have a good excuse for being absent like you two. I was just out screwing around. Now you don't even want to let me be part of the payback? Let's see you try and knock me out, bro, because nothing else is gonna work."

"Let him go, Mega." Roll stepped in before the argument could escalate. "He's got armor. He's got weapons. He's ready. Do it for me if not him, huh?" A moment of silence passed, and then Mega Man collapsed into his chair.

"All right. You're in, Auto. But be careful. Remember, you're a diversion. Just try to stay alive and be distracting, and get out if it heats up too much."

"Won't let you down, boss!" Auto saluted dramatically.

"As for you, bro, I think your role is obvious by now." Proto Man nodded over to Mega Man, then turned his head to regard the animals (and suitcase). "I'll move better by myself, so Eddie, go with Auto. Rush with Mega, of course. As for _you_," He frowned at Beat. "Have you learned your lesson about hotdogging it enough to go along?"

Sighing, Beat rolled his eyes before bobbing the front of his body.

"With Mega too, then." Proto nodded.

"You're strictly backup, though." Mega amended. "Hang back, watch, and help me out if I get in a jam. That's it. You tear off to attack something _once_, and you're out. Even if you see Treble sleeping with a bullseye painted on him. Let me handle the rough stuff, got it?"

Beat's response this time was definitely sulky, but he bobbed affirmatively again.

"Well then, unless anybody has anything else to add, let's get these fellows looking handsome!" Proto Man stood up. After a moment, Dr. Light did so as well.

"Be careful, all of you." The old man spoke for the first time that evening. "Good luck. Come back alive... and stop this madness. The world is counting on you."

"I will, dad." Mega Man said simply, looking out the window towards the north. Far away, Skull Fortress VI waited. With it, Wily, Bass, Treble, and everything they represented. "This time, it ends."

* * *

It wasn't a desert, but it still felt familiar; Mega Man and Proto Man, watching the Skull Fortress from a mile away. Sentry robots patrolled in random patterns, not sensing the enemy quite yet. Mega Man was fully decked out with a pair of aviator sunglasses contributed by Dr. Light and a yellow dishtowel around his neck. Despite this slightly ludicrous appearance, he was analyzing the sentries grimly. Finally, he nodded once and glanced over at his brother. "Give me ten minutes, then signal Auto."

"Roger." Proto Man had temporarily stuffed his scarf into his pocket, though he still wore his sunglasses. Just in case, he had the Skull Barrier equipped; the shades of blue were different than Mega Man's, but they would pass a quick glance. "Remember, that shield only works from the front, and don't try to slide while you're holding it." He paused for a moment. "Or while near any stairs, for that matter."

"Roll told you about that, did she." Mega let a tiny smile show, for only a moment. "I'm going in, then. Good luck."

"Luck hates us. I think that's apparent by now." Proto said with a shrug. "Count on fate instead." Watching his brother run ahead, he sat down and started counting.

The Scorch Wheel burned through the outdoor sentries with great effectiveness, and the weapons energy they dropped kept him able to use it as he crossed the mile to the drawbridge. It was down completely, inviting him to enter, and didn't even start to raise dramatically as he walked across. "Old man _must_ be fooled. Either that, or he's getting sloppy with the theatrics." Commenting idly as he continued to destroy cannons lining the entrance hall, Mega proceeded forward to the ladder that was farthest at the end and ignoring all side passages. He had a good sense of Wily's architectural mind by now, and straightforward was usually the only way that actually got him anywhere. After all, the old maniac _wanted_ him to come say hi.

"Of course, he also has a warped sense of aesthetics." The Blue Bomber muttered to himself, entering a hallway lit only by police-style searchlights, which flickered on and off every few seconds. Adding a couple profanities to his running commentary, Mega switched to the Junk Shield and charged across without bothering to eliminate every enemy he saw. The room of spinning platforms afterwards, however, was a far different story. Looking at the tiny lifts running along a track attached to one wall, doing frantic gyrations at timed intervals, over a pit of spikes stretching fifty feet, was not at all pleasant. Mega was on the verge of calling Rush before remembering he was still in disguise. "Great. Looks like I do this the hard way."

"Tweet!" Flying up behind him, Beat carefully grabbed his left arm in his claws and took off over the spikes.

"Wow. Did Dad upgrade your jets or something? Well, I'm not complaining." Though he dangled like a rag doll, Mega Man was still able to fire off his Buster to accurately dispose of enemies along the way. At the hallway's end, there were two passages; a small tunnel that he could fit into if he used the slide, and an actual wooden door. Glancing down the first, Mega Man saw an E-Tank sitting at the other end. "Yeah, _no._" Opening the door instead, he started to walk through, then froze, staring forward in anger.

"Well, can't say I expected _this._" Bass waved casually, leaning against the opposite wall. "Nice to meet you, pal. I'm sure you know who _I_ am. Guessing your little brother'll be along shortly. Hope I don't have to go looking for him. This is just fine, though; I was only planning on a warm-up in here, so you'll suit for that."

"Well, aren't we confident." Mega Man said quietly, pulling the sunglasses and dishtowel off and switching off the Scorch Wheel. "Nice to see you again, Bass. It's your lucky day, though. Blues would _really_ beat the crap out of you if he was here. I'm just going to take you down."

"_Huuuuuuuh?_" Bass stared, wide-eyed, in a most undignified manner before recovering. Running a hand across one helmet fin, he smiled sheepishly. "Well, damn. You got us. We never saw _this_ one coming. Dad must be having a cow right about now."

"If he did that every time he was surprised, he'd have to give up this business and go into farming by now." Mega replied coolly. On a simultaneous, mutual urge, they both turned to the right and began slowly walking around the walls of the circular room, pacing evenly opposite each other with every step. Their tones were light and conversational, their faces friendly. It was almost just like it had been before, but both of them knew better.

"Now _there's_ a funny mental picture." Bass laughed. "Farmer Wily, in suspenders and a straw hat. I'm going to have to whip one of those up on the computer for Father's Day."

"See if you can forward me a copy when you do." Mega chuckled a bit as well. "Roll'd laugh all day. She's a bit miffed with you for what you did to her, by the way."

"I was afraid she would be. She's got one hell of a punch, though." Bass rubbed his jaw. "Knocked out a few teeth. Glad I'm not human." Clenching his right hand, he formed the Buster around it, and began charging. "Won't be able to send you a copy, though. I'm afraid you're not going to be around that long."

"Is that a fact." Mega Man followed suit as they continued their cycle around the room. "That one's usually my line, you know. Or something a lot like it. And I really would hate to disappoint my family by bungling this one. It's a bit personal, you know."

"Well, at least you've got an enthusiastic cheering squad." Bass shrugged. "Dad isn't quite the same. He's scared of you, you know. The greatest terror the world has ever known, and Dr. Wily fears _you_." The smile widened, baring his teeth. "But I don't."

Mirroring each other perfectly, Mega Man and Bass turned, fired their charged shots, and hurdled the other's, landing right in front of each other with burning eyes.

"Let's go, hero."

"Bring it on, badman."

* * *

Buster duels were a different kind of fight than a normal fight against a Robot Master. With only one form of weapon used by both parties, it came down to individual styles and raw ability. Bass was the third Robot Master that Mega had fought in such a fashion. Proto Man had been confident and cool, taking advantage of his shield to take risks and charge around, always trying to control the battle. Doc Man had been intelligent and cautious, using illusions to disguise himself while remaining at a distance, waiting for an opening. Bass had neither shield nor illusions, but within a few moments, Mega realized that he didn't _need_ them to be just as dangerous as the others.

"Heads up!" The son of Wily crowed, firing yet another charged shot, massive sphere of plasma in the ostentatious form of a skull as it flew out. The clumsy, jerky movements from the first time they had sparred were nowhere to be seen. Now, Bass was moving fluidly every instant. Running, leaping, diving, he never paused for a second in his dodging or his return of fire. And as Mega had been afraid of, a few hits quickly proved that his Buster was, indeed, stronger than the Blue Bomber's.

"You're good. I'll give you that much." Mega managed to block the plasma blast with Proto Man's shield, then whipped his Buster out without firing it. The fire came after Bass jumped, a charged shot aimed at the point where the enemy would land.

"Damn." Bass grunted as it hit, returning fire with four normal shots in succession. Two at head level, one at Mega's feet, and then one more at the head. "You're not bad yourself. But then, that's why I'm the only one who can do this."

"Sure you can." There was no way to block all the shots, and jumping was out of the question; Bass' "bullets" were more like spears. Keeping the shield high, Mega took the third shot in his left ankle, the plasma nearly burning a hole straight through his armor. "Just like everybody else who thought that." Suddenly halting, Mega Man dived forward across the ground with the shield over his back like a turtle into Bass' path.

"Oh no you don't!" Vaulting over him in a full frontal flip, Bass sighted down his Buster in midair and fired through the shield's vision slot. "Nice try!" Turning completely in the air, the son of Wily landed on his feet only to be blasted in the back by a charged shot.

"It was worth it, I'd say." Mega kept firing uncharged shots as Bass sprawled, charged shot's force combining with his forward momentum to make him sprawl. Rising, the Blue Bomber continued pumping blasts into the enemy.

"I do _not_ believe I fell for that." Bass snarled, taking the hits until he could launch a charged shot back to let him get up. It was dodged, but he didn't care, charging recklessly and grabbing the edge of the shield with one hand. "Gimme that!"

"Hell no!" Mega punched him in the face with his free hand, a sentiment that was quickly returned. Growling and grappling like drunks in a bar fight, they continued to lay into each other while tugging back and forth on the shield. Both fired the charged shots at the same time, but Mega Man flew further, rolling across the ground and trailing smoke. Rising, he watched Bass do the same. "Nice. It won't work again, though."

"No, I don't suppose it will." Bass dusted himself off theatrically, making no show of attacking again. "That'll do for the warmup, then. That damn shield's giving you too much of an advantage. Looks like round one goes to you, Mega Man."

"Just round one? You're sure you don't want to finish it now?" Mega raised an eyebrow, then fired again.

"I'm sure. Gonna let you have some more fun with the clanks around here first." Bass easily sidestepped it. "As a matter of fact, there's one in particular who's been waiting to say hi to you!" Cupping his hand to his mouth, he yelled towards the far door. "You hear that, Big Al? I'm done here, so come on in!" Dropping the hand, he grinned at Mega. "Don't worry, this'll be fun. Trust me on this one. So go ahead and enjoy your time left, huh? I'll be waiting." Teleporting away, he was gone in a flash as the room began to shake.

"We'll see about that." Draining an E-Tank, Mega Man waited for whatever Bass had called. It was only a few seconds before the enemy entered, barging through the door at high speed.

"Oh, yeah!" It was the Guts Man robot Wily had stolen from the Robot Museum, but the deranged scientist had altered it grotesquely. The left arm had been torn off and replaced by a limb twice the size of the original, ending in a humongous metal clamp as large as Mega Man's entire body. The feet had been modified as well, now bearing treaded rollers that were sickeningly familiar. Doc Man's upgraded form in the Fifth had used them to great advantage. "Little brother, good to see you again! Been _way_ too long!"

"No point in trying to talk sense into you." Mega Man shook his head with just a hint of sadness. Wily often convinced repeated Robot Masters that they had been rebuilt from the original models out of pure cruelty; that stung especially here, as the original Guts Man had been a friend of Mega's before his corruption. "The only thing to do is end this for you as clean as possible." He fired a charged shot straight at then enemy's head.

"Haw haw haw! That's rich!" Guts Man brayed, ignoring the damage. "I always liked that about ya, Rock! Always the tough little scrapper! Okay then, let's see if ya still got it! Guts... _quake!_" Bending his knees, he hopped into the air a foot. When he landed, the room shook again, and the walls began to tilt, causing the ceiling to slide down.

"Oh, _man._ I _hate_ when they don't build these things properly." Mega groaned, staring up as one section of the ceiling fell loose entirely. It was too square to be a coincidence, a four-foot block of solid rock.

"Shoulda had me do it! I'da built it better! Guts... _launch!_" Chuckling grimly, Guts Man charged and slammed the block with his groteque claw arm. The sheer brute power in the limb launched the block straight at Mega Man, who barely jumped over it in time to avoid being smashed flat against the wall.

"Phew, close one." Landing on top of the block, he continued firing at Guts Man. "Get me up here, tough guy!"

"Kay." Charging again, Guts Man smashed the block. "Guts _crush!_" The block exploded into gravel, and Mega Man fell straight into the claw, which grabbed him painfully. "Guts _claw!_ And... _slam!_" Winding up, he hurled Mega Man straight up like a fastball to the heavens. Right into the roof. The force left an actual humanoid dent in the surface, which Mega remained stuck in for a moment before limply falling down.

"Right. No more of _that_, luggo." Wincing and shaking his head to clear out the stars, Mega Man switched over to the Slash Claw. "You want to play strongarm? Fine. Come over here and give your big brother a hug."

"I ain't that dumb!" Guts Man protested, jumping again. "Guts _quake!_" The ceiling dropped several more feet, now at an uncomfortably low level, and another stone cube was presented to him. "Guts-"

"Too slow!" Mega Man was there first, whacking the cube with all the power the Slash Claw could give his arm. It was enough; the cube slid across, smashing into the surprised Guts Man and breaking apart against his body.

"Owwww!"

"Get over here!" Charging behind it, Mega Man began hacking and slashing at a single point. The shoulder of the lift arm.

"Why you..." Growling, Guts Man reached up and grabbed him again. "Guts _claw! _And... huh?" Despite his capture, Mega was still close enough to continue the attack, and repeated application of the claws had done the job. The arm fell off, completely severed.

"And _that_ puts you pretty much out of commission." Mega Man struggled out of the detached clamp.

"You punk! I'll show you! Guts _quake!_" Jumping again, Guts Man continued to do so repeatedly. "Guts _quake!_ Guts _quake!_ Whaddaya say to that, huh? Huh?"

"I say goodbye." Mega Man dashed past him, through the door he had demolished on his way in. "Later!"

"Whaaaaaaa?" Staring after him, Guts Man then turned his gaze skyward, as the ceiling finally gave way entirely and collapsed upon the entire room. The noise was truly impressive, and went on for quite some time before falling into silence. But Mega Man was already gone by that time, continuing on his way into the depths of Skull Fortress.

* * *

"Arrrrrrrrrrgh." Bass hissed silently, trying to keep it under his breath, as Dr. Wily sewed a flap of torn synthskin into place over his cheek.

"Oh, stop that." Wily snapped at him. "You're just lucky you were smart enough to get out of there like this. I told you that you should just wait for the tower, but no, you had to go and 'warm up' first. Idiot. This is your own fault, so don't whine to me. If it's going to permanently damage your poor little mind, just go into stasis."

"Hell no. I'm not clocking out until I see this through." Bass snarled, then gasped as the old man moved on to a bit of exposed wiring. "Guh!"

"Then muzzle yourself, or I'll do it for you." Wily instructed. "This is the last of it anyways." Ignoring his creation's further whimpers and whines, he fixed the wiring and welded the hole in his armor shut. "That's the patch job for you. Not enough time to completely rebuild your armor before Mega Man arrives."

"Thanks, dad." Bass sat up and swung his legs off the table, ignoring the pain-flushed state he had been in moments before. "I appreciate it. Did you find the real Proto Man, by the way?"

"No charge." Wily replied with a dramatic eyeroll as he put away his tools. "And yes. He's on that stupid butterfly of his ramming their heads against our back wall. I've got plenty of robots out there keeping him from getting in. We don't want him interfering with anything." He indicated a monitor, which Bass strolled over to.

"Huh." The evil Robot Master frowned, sitting down before it. "Bit hard to see him clearly like that, huh? Especially with how he's moving around. I wonder..." Trailing off, he began looking through still frames of the footage. As he found what he was looking for, Bass only stared for a moment before collapsing in hysterical laughter, falling out of the chair onto the floor. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I don't believe this shit! They got us! They got us _again!_"

"Gr?" Treble stared at his master in confusion before turning a worried glance to Wily.

"No, I don't think he's deranged." Wily assured him, stepping over the giggling Bass to peer at the monitor himself. "He's just being an idiot-what? What? _What the hell is that?_" On the monitor was a moment of clarity; Auto, painted red and grey, clinging determinedly to the Melee Moth's back with one hand. The other was holding a massive bazooka in place on the attached shoulder, in the process of launching a missile.

"_That_ would be the Lights blindsiding us again. Oh man, those guys are _great_." Rising, Bass clapped his stunned creator on the shoulder. "Give it up, dad. We're never gonna find Proto Man by now, wherever he is in here."

"Hmph, fine." Wily shook his head vigorously and turned away. "There are alternatives. If you're so smitten by that family, though, tell me. How _was_ your little warmup? How did you find Mega Man's skill and power?"

"Better than I expected." Bass answered after a short pause. "You weren't joking. Buster alone, he had the advantage the whole time. Even if he hadn't had that stupid shield..." He trailed off, then clenched a fist. "You were right. He's like an entirely different person from when we were goofing around with the Robot Masters. There wasn't an inch of give in him. So I'll follow his example." He looked over at the old man. "What will you do now?"

"Prepare for whatever Proto Man has in mind." Dr. Wily shrugged, sitting down and giving his attention to the monitor as he accessed the Skull Fortress's controls. "And you?"

"I'm going to go confirm my reason for existence." Bass answered quietly, without heat or excitement. "Come on, Treble."

"Gr." Treble nodded, ready as well. Together, the pair of robots teleported away, towards the tower in the second ring of defense that, like themselves, had been built for this purpose alone. And only Dr. Wily remained.

Smiling in the dark.

* * *

When a section of the Skull Fortress was _themed_, it was a sure sign that far too many of them had been allowed to exist. Turtle statues all over the walls, along with all of the local robots bearing some sort of plasma-deflective shielding-neither would be offensive alone, but together they soon had Mega Man grinding his teeth. It was almost a relief to see a spent E-Tank canister lying on the floor in front of a door.

"Knowing Bass... that would be the one I gave him, from Auto." Mega Man said to himself. Kicking it aside, he stepped through the door into one of the three towers stretching above the Fortress-probably the central one. About fifty feet tall, it would be a nightmare to navigate, as the only means of scaling it were ledges barely large enough for one person to stand on. They were all completely unconnected, but each looked to be exactly six feet vertically from all of its neighbors. Open windows to the outside and powerful turbofans were also spaced in various places. But what drew Mega Man's eye was Bass and Treble, standing above him on a ledge directly opposite on the first level.

"You made good time getting here." Bass said with a cocky smirk. "Barely had time to get myself ready."

"We went through the flashy introduction bit already, you know." Mega Man sighed, calling Rush in. "It's not really necessary again. Let's just do this. We've both been waiting long enough as it is."

"Ha! Can't argue with that logic. All right, then!" Bass yelled. "This time, the mighty Mega Man shall finally fall! Behold my true strength!"

"Rush, armor!" Mega Man ordered.

"Treble, _assault_!" Bass screamed.

The two robotic canines howled in unison, then leaped onto their masters, bodies shifting and warping into torso armor that slid over the robots' heads. Clenching himself into a ball, Bass spun through the air off of the ledge... then halted. Purple spikes adorned the helmet fins, the shoulders, the boots, and especially the _wings_, vast appendages that stretched three feet behind Bass and blasted hoverjets that kept him aloft, unmoving. Raising his face, he stared down at Mega Man in his own red armor, pitifully small and sparse by comparison.

"Permanent flight capability." Mega Man realized, glaring back up. "This is going to suck."

"My name is Bass, the son of Dr. Albert Wily. I am the black wind." Bass whispered, barely audible, as his face slowly contorted into the manic grin that marked the family name. "The age of Mega Man ends here and now!" Laughing, screaming, howling at his destiny, Bass flew down in a frontal charge.

"This isn't my age." Mega Man raised his fist, defiant and motionless. "This is nothing but a curse, and it too shall pass. As do we all, in the end." The fist flew out on a rocket, and the instant it did, Mega Man was gone, jetpack launching him up to a ledge behind him.

"Run, coward!" Bass took the fist full-on and was not slowed an inch despite the massive dent it left in his chestplate. Swooping up, he began firing plasma shots. "I'll hunt you down to the ends of existence itself!"

"No need for that." Moving from one platform to the next as soon as his feet touched land, the Blue Bomber reattached his fist. "I'm stopping you. Here and now." He didn't bother with normal shots; he simply charged another as he watched Bass gain distance with every second. Suddenly aiming low, he gripped the edge of the next platform with his hands and swung under it instead of landing above. Bass swooped overhead, unable to stop in time, and caught Mega Man's next fist full on as they both emerged on the opposite side.

"Not bad!" Bass cackled, finally braking and firing downwards, using his superior height to aim much more accurately from a stationary position. "I knew you were the best!"

"And I still am!" Grunting as he took plasma fire, Mega Man hurled himself through a window to the outside. There were no ledges there, so he fired the jets instantly to reach another sill with his hands. Instead of flipping up onto it, however, he waited a moment for the jets to recharge, then launched his fist through the window and dropped to slip back through the same opening he had left by. The sound of plasma fire and an annoyed grunt told him that his trick had been successful. Sure enough, when his fist returned it was scorched by plasma, but Bass sported another dent in the side of his helmet. One of the spikes had even been severed, and was now lying on a ledge, useless.

"Thought you were running away!" Bass charged again, barely intelligible now with his shrieking. "Don't do that, boy! Let's have _fun!_" Whirling his own fist around, Bass launched it as a rocket.

"Oh, no." Mega Man saw it approach, but could do nothing to stop it; the missile slammed into him with a crunch and threw him from his perch. As the Blue Bomber plummeted, Bass laughed frenzied. Even as he fell, however, he saw the mad robot flying for him again. Skidding across the floor, Mega Man punched again, but the flying fist didn't deter his foe.

"Come here! Give cousin Bass a hug!" Gripping him with both arms, Bass turned upward and flew, jets blasting them both straight up. Mega Man's struggles availed him nothing, and at the apex of the tower, they both turned and plunged downward for the floor at even greater velocity, Bass releasing him and swooping away only at the last moment.

Were he a human, Mega Man would have been completely pulverized. Were he unarmored, he would be killed. As it was, the Blue Bomber actually _bounced_ with enough force to sprawl onto a first-level ledge, helmet cracked and body damaged. Rising shakily, he dropped back to the floor just in time to avoid plasma fire. Attacking with the rocket fist once more, he climbed another ledge, and then another, rising high once more.

"Keep going! Keep fighting! More, more, more!" Bass followed his every move with the plasma cannon on his arm, then paused, obviously charging another shot with his now-bent right arm. Inwardly, though, he was seething; each of Mega Man's rocket-fist hits was still aching with pain. _Damn it... I'm stronger, I'm faster... so why am I beat up so badly? Why?_

"Right. None of that." Seeing this, Mega Man slipped through a window again a moment before Bass fired. One thud later, the outer wall bulged in a fist-shaped decoration. Chuckling quietly, Mega Man popped back up and returned fire with much greater accuracy.

Now growling like an animal, Bass flew forward again, and once more Mega Man led him on the chase up and around. This time, Mega Man launched himself directly towards one of the wall-mounted turbofans. The gusts of air that had only been a mild annoyance before suddenly launched him out into space, and Bass found himself clutching empty nothingness a moment before the hero's flying fist hit the back of his head. His face smashed flat into the edge of a platform, and he snarled horrendously before dropping. _Why? Why? I'm always behind him, always better, but he always gets away!_ With the damage he was taking, his vision was starting to blur; an odd, flickering shadow was dancing around the room with nothing casting it. "Stop it... stop it! Fight me! Die to me!"

"I cannot." Mega Man said simply, hopping around again. As he landed on the ledge where the fallen helmet spike lay, he kicked it off into Bass' face. The flying demon recoiled as it struck his eyes, losing control and crashing into a ledge again. This time, Mega Man hit him as he fell, driving him further into the ground. The plasma fire that sprayed wildly as Bass plummeted didn't deter him in the slightest. Now, the Blue Bomber stood above the Black Wind.

"No... no..." Shaking, Bass climbed back to his feet, not even noticing as Mega Man dropped down to him and slowly advanced. _Internal operations energy at 10... system failure imminent. _The moving shadow was staying still now, behind his enemy. Voices came to Bass, his frenzied memory calling them up randomly in a storm.

"_If you want a name, robot... make one for yourself._"

"_My life is _mine, _and I decide what to do with it._"

"_Sorry, B, but I'm not gonna just roll over and play dead._"

"_What are you going to do? Isn't this enough for you, _Wilybot_?_"

"_If that is my fate, would there be any point to denying it?_"

"_Just part of the job, I'm afraid._"

"_Well then, little brother... will you follow in my footsteps all the way?_"

"No..." Bass clutched his head. "No, that one wasn't there before! What's happening? Why is my body broken? Why am I hearing things? _Why can't I beat him?_" Eyes wide in terror, he raised his fist up to fire again.

Without missing a beat, Mega Man drove the broken helmet spike through his enemy's fingers, through the palm, through the wrist all the way into the arm.

Unable to break loose, the thruster jets on the arm-rocket burned into the socket, and Bass screamed in new agony, falling to the floor once more. His right arm was a ruined wreck now. Dimly, he saw Mega Man standing before him, but he didn't raise his eyes. It was unquestionable now. He had lost. He had failed. His purpose was false.

"Finish it." Bass whispered.

Mega Man hesitated. He stared down at the enemy, bowed and broken before him, and he wondered. And he decided. "No." Without another word, Mega Man turned his back and began to walk.

At first, Bass thought he was hearing things again. But no, Mega Man was walking away, leaving him alive. Alive, and without a purpose. "What the hell do you mean, no?" The son of Wily said angrily, voice rising again. "I'm a bad guy! I'm a Wilybot! You won. This is your job!"

"My job is to stop the killing." Mega Man paused, then looked over his shoulder. "How many humans have you killed, Bass?"

"Like it matters?" Bass spluttered, caught off guard. "I can kill as many as I want!"

"But you haven't yet." Mega Man nodded firmly. "Now I'm sure. And if you do, maybe this makes me responsible. But until that moment, I'm taking a chance with you."

"Why?" Bass struggled to his feet again, ignoring the blazing pain filling his arm. "After everything I did to you. I lied to you. I betrayed your friendship. I destroyed your house. I hurt your father, your sister. _Why?_"

"Because..." Mega Man closed his eyes and hesitated a moment, his own brain now filled with memories. Many more memories, much more time alive than Bass. But one in particular. The top of a flaming fortress, and a final, peaceful resolution with one from beyond the grave he had thought forever lost. Opening his eyes, he turned around completely to stare Bass head on. "I gave your brother a chance too. It didn't work out, but I still owe it to him to give you the same."

That was the final straw. Bass' arms dropped, both of them, the broken and the working, as his face became blank of all emotion. Only his lips moved, whispering, barely audible. "I never knew I had a brother."

"His name was Doc Man." Mega Man explained, almost as quietly. "He shattered his own mind to be free of the Laws of Robotics, and then healed it when he returned from the dead. He was the first true son of Wily, and though he died, he did so free of his past. Of his curse." Turning away again, he began walking once more. The rest of the Skull Fortress still awaited him. "He died that way. You can live that way."

"No..." Bass whispered, then roared. "NO!"

Mega Man continued to walk.

"Dammit, get back here!" Bass screamed. "Get back here and fight me!"

Mega Man walked, away from the fallen.

"Don't do this! Don't leave me like this!" Bass was begging now, frenzied. "Come back... come back and kill me!"

Even the sound of plasma fire did not stop Mega Man's pace now. He knew it was only a bluff. Bass was firing at the ceiling with his remaining good arm. He fired again, and again, face contorted in suffering. And Mega Man walked on, leaving the second Son of Wily alone, standing in the remains of his shattered beliefs and wasted life.


	16. Chapter 15: LAW

_**Chapter 15: LAW **_

_ASIMOV'S FIRST LAW: A robot must not harm, or through inaction cause harm to come, to a human being._

From the tower in which he had fought Bass onward, Mega Man was unstoppable. Proceeding through the seventh Skull Fortress like a natural disaster, he took no more damage and spared no foe. Crafty Sniper Joes, plasma-proof Gabyools, implacable hordes of Metools and more were all destroyed relentlessly, Mega Buster moving from one to another without a moment's pause almost like a work of art. Gaping pits of spikes and massive jets of flame were avoided just as perfectly, the Blue Bomber dodging and weaving, jumping and sliding past and over each and every thing. All of this was accomplished without a single word, with no noise save the clanking of his feet and the discharge of his Buster. His face, likewise, remained calm and quiet throughout, almost without emotion. This continued until he reached a pair of steel shutters. Another Fortress Guardian. Stepping through, he watched without reaction as a car-sized turtle shell descended from above into the high-ceilinged room he now stood in, strangely floored with dirt instead of metal. Jets spurting from the limb sockets slowed its landing, and above the hole for the head was a windshield through which many cute baby turtle-bots could be seen operating controls.

"Wily's letting his sense of style get the better of him again, I see." Mega Man finally spoke, professional disgust breaking through his previous mood. "Fair enough. Since he kept this Skull Fortress restrained, I guess the last time would be... that mech with a Metool piloting it back in the Sixth. So yeah, it's due." Shaking his head in resignation, he began firing at the Guardian's head as soon as it emerged, along with the limbs. Screeching, the machine began breathing streams of fire, which were slow and easily dodged. After a few bursts, the head and limbs retracted, and the shell began rocketing around, trying to run Mega Man down without much success. Seeing this, the Turtank lowered again, deposited the central portion of its interior, and flew off towards the ceiling, leaving what looked like a tiny warehouse sitting on the floor. As Mega Man watched, the door of the "building" opened.

"Exercise program alpha! Hi ho, hi ho! Hup two three!" Calling to each other in squeaky voices, three of the baby turtle-bots marched out in a line and advanced towards Mega Man.

"Too easy." Absorbing a shot of the Noise Crush, he turned back and wiped out the entire row. The Turtank returned then and tried its flamethrower again, along with the ram attack, before releasing more baby turtles.

"Exercise program beta! Wheee! Look at me go!" This time, the baby turtles immediately retracted into their own shells upon release, zooming around the room like rubber balls. This proved slightly more difficult to counteract, but Mega Man was able to manage using the Danger Wrap to nail them one by one. The Turtank returned to its pattern, but this time the Blue Bomber grew tired of the repetition.

"Screw it. This worked on the stegos..." Growling as he charged the Wild Coil, Mega wrapped both plasma-loaded springs around the Turtank's neck. As had Slash Man's minions, with the metal springs stuck there, the Guardian's attempts to retract only ground their spiked ends into the neck deeper. Unfortunately, it seemed this was not sufficient to halt the programming that caused it to pull in the legs and lift off, and the subsequent ramming into the walls proved disastrous for the still-protruding head. Bursting into flame itself, the machine crashed through the far wall, only a few of the baby turtles escaping.

"It's up to us! Exercise program gamma! Bye-bye!" Sliding into their shells, the turtle-bots burrowed into the soft dirt floor. Shaking his head, Mega Man called Rush down into Jet Mode and flew above, waiting for them to emerge before nailing them one by one. Walking past the ruins of the Turtank, he continued onward.

The third ring was just as "themed" as the second had been, though much more brutal; spikes everywhere one looked. Under transparent glass bridges, under Wily's infamous "disappearing blocks," under jet-powered platforms set to explode after five seconds. Rush bore it all grimly, enduring transformation after transformation between Armor and Jet forms without a word of complaint. And Mega Man continued onward, until he reached a mile-long narrow bridge over a seemingly bottomless chasm and realized the next Fortress Guardian would be at hand.

"I fall down there, and I've had it... bridge'll probably start collapsing, too." Mega Man guessed, glaring over at the far end. "And that door'll probably only open if Jolly Boy is down. Speaking of which..." He shifted his gaze behind him and upward, where Wily's death machine was now hovering. An airborne arsenal, it boasted missile launchers, bomb hatches and what looked like a laser port, all borne on massive jets and covered with a metallic Noh mask, of the Hann'ya style. Glancing down at Rush, who remained by his side, Mega Man nodded up at the flying monstrosity. "Care for one more flight, boy?"

"Ha ha ha..." Unperturbed, the Hann'ya began unloading its missiles, six of them in just as many seconds. However, they were unguided, and thus easily dodged by the Blue Bomber on his jetboard. Looking over the slapdash assembly of all the armament, Mega selected the Noise Crash and began firing rebounds towards the monstrosity's eyes. The laser beam, bombs, and even a headlong charge all proved to be just as ineffective against another aerial target. With a dozen hits, the Guardian went down in flames, crashing through the bridge to fall into the darkness.

"That was easy." Mega Man guided Rush down to the end of the bridge, and they stepped through. Seeing a teleporter capsule waiting for him, the Blue Bomber glanced down at his canine companion, who was struggling to hide a clear exhaustion. "All right, Rush. Stay here with Beat when he catches up. I probably won't need you to finish now, but stay alert just in case, huh? Then we can all head back home."

"Wuff."

"Good boy." Scratching Rush's head, Mega entered the capsule and allowed it to zap him to its pre-programmed destination, all too familiar even moreso than the rest of the Skull Fortress. Deposited at the top of an elevator shaft, he entered the lift and dropped a floor to find two more identical capsules waiting for him on each side. The elevator's buttons indicated five floors; his entry point, and a total of eight additional teleporters. Each would doubtless take him to a copy of the Robot Masters du jour, for a gauntlet of rematches that was always the final line of defense before Wily himself.

One by one, all eight fell, as they had before. With Mega Man already knowledgeable about their fighting styles and weaknesses, they were no match for him. Freeze Man's style and moves got jammed up by the Junk Shield. Slash Man's acrobatics and claws froze up when hit by the Freeze Cracker. Junk Man's calm, crushing strength shorted out due to the Thunder Bolt. Turbo Man's blazing speed fell to pieces under the Noise Crash's assault. Cloud Man's cheerful flight and electric powers were snared and grounded with the Danger Wrap. Spring Man's flexible jumping was cut to shreds by the Slash Claw. Shade Man's confident hovering and scary predations came crashing to earth when caught in the Wild Coil. And Burst Man's angry bubble bombs wilted against the Scorch Wheel's fury.

Eight Robot Masters returned. Eight Robot Masters died again. And Mega Man, triumphant, entered the elevator and waited as it automatically descended past the lowest level, then suddenly dropped the floor out from under him. Briefly startled, Mega quickly recollected his calm as he landed in the mad Doctor's personal labs. Ignoring the workbenches and computer screens, he stalked about in search of one thing only. Wily himself.

"Here, little hero, I'm over here..." Wily's voice taunted from a hatch in the floor in one corner.

"I'm coming, madman." Mega Man grunted as he opened the hatch up and jumped in without a qualm. Falling a greater distance this time, he landed safely nevertheless, in a wide room fifty feet square with a garage door in one wall its only noticeable feature. Crossing his arms, Mega Man patiently waited.

Dr. Wily did not disappoint. The door rolled up, and slowly, step by step, the Doctor's latest war machine came forward out of the shadows. It was the next step in a running theme; preceding it had been the Skull Jet, the Skull Dozer, and the Skull Crusher. Now, Wily brought forth the Skull Walker. Twenty feet tall, the titanium skull was supported by two pillar-like piston legs on its sides. One by one, they slowly inched forward. On the skull itself, a grotesque gun over the nasal cavity began tracking Mega Man, while a pipe rising from the crown sat ominously quiet. Reaching its enemy, the Walker stood still, tilting slightly to look down at him with metal screens over its eye sockets. And then one of those screens rolled up, and there was the cockpit, with the most familiar sight of all. Dr. Wily, hunched over the controls, arms and hands moving feverishly around while his head remained absolutely still, leering at his eternal nemesis.

"Hello, Mega Man. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Not nearly long enough to suit my tastes." Mega fired off a charged shot at the cockpit and watched it sink into the eye socket with a hiss. As always, Wily protected himself with a barrier of transparent plasteel; difficult to penetrate, but still the weakest point on the titanium hulk.

"I'm hurt! More than six months, and not even a hello? No visits, no Christmas cards... why, even Light came to see me once!" Wily began moving the walker forward in a series of kangaroo hops, bearing down on Mega Man like a charging bull. "I haven't even met my newest nephew! Ooh, there's a thought!" The old maniac raised a hand to stroke his chin reflectively as his war machine raged onward. "He came by to take part here, didn't he? Call him up and tell him to come on in here! He can help you finish me off, and then we'll all go out for a round of drinks afterwards before you take me back to jail! It'll be _fun!_"

"Stop that." The Blue Bomber snapped, sliding under the Walker's chin in mid-hop, barely scraping past a row of spikes on the jawline. "I can't even tell if you're trying to be funny or if your dementia's just that pervasive any more." Charging, he watched the machine run into the back wall, then spring more than twice its own height into the air, turning around as it soared. "This has gone on far too many times already. I don't need any more reminders of that." Firing again as it landed, he watched it charge once more, and slid under its hopping again.

"Poor little Rock. If you still don't get it, then obviously, it hasn't been too many times at all." The next time Wily landed, the pipe on the crown sprang to life, launching a pair of projectiles that landed on the ground. Beeping, the two miniature walker-bots began running towards Mega Man while the Walker began hopping again, Wily grimacing in mock sorrow. "Come on, boy. You know it by now, if you really try. You know it will never be enough times. Because it's never going to end."

"You always say that." Mega Man reminded him with a snort, turning to the Freeze Cracker on a sudden idea. Slinging it at the plasteel window without recharge time needed, he nodded as he saw the surface frost over. Easily avoiding Wily's rampage now, he watched the Walker crush its own mini-bots underfoot with its frenzied stomping.

"Knew I should have included windshield wipers..." Wily growled, turning around and firing more mini-bots. "Bah! It matters not! This is just part of the eternity we are bound in, Mega Man." Stomping around at random, the old man didn't even seem to care that he couldn't see, his enemy continuing to sling iceballs. "I told everybody that this had become my life, my entire existence now. But the rub of it is, the same goes for you too! Rebellions are _your_ life as well as mine, hero! They're all that's left to you! I've taken everything else away!"

"You're wrong." Mega hissed, turning back to the Mega Buster. _If I remember my elementary metalworking, that stuff should be brittle now that it's frozen. Especially if I heat it up again, the shock..._ "You're wrong, Wily!" Roaring, he jumped, slid and fired, keeping himself away from the crushing death while returning the sentiment with perfect accuracy. "I'll wrap this up, send you off, and go back to my life. My family, my home... they're all waiting for me."

"And do they give you any joy, boy? Do they bring you happiness? Or do you simply endure them, and wait for the rush of battle, the thrill of saving the world?" Wily guessed shrewdly. "You go back to them, yes. But there's more to living than being alive!"

"Get back." Mega warned him, deliberately ignoring the chill that had run through him. "It's about to break." And so the plasteel screen did, shattering, Wily recoiling and avoiding being harmed as the shards fell, some of them plunging into the machine's controls. Veering around crazily, the Skull Walker rammed into walls several times before collapsing in a heap. Mega Man didn't even bother checking the cockpit. Wily would have already departed. "And now you'll pull out that stupid Wilyporter again. The only one of those that was a threat was the first one. You're just prolonging the inevitable."

"That is true... or, at least, it would be." Dr. Wily's high-pitched voice, sounding amused, echoed through the room. "If this _was_ just another Wilyporter, that is. If it was, you would be absolutely right, boy. But here's the thing. It's _not._" Suddenly teleporting into existence, the final weapon of Dr. Wily hovered in front of Mega Man, ten feet above his head. This machine was vastly different from the former; small and compact, a hovering pod that the old man barely fit inside, the entire top half a plasteel bubble over a skull-shaped bottom. From the sides, back, and bottom, a nightmarish cluster of spikes and guns crackled with energy. "I decided to switch things up a bit. That was just the warm-up, this time... now, let's get the _real_ show started! Wilyporter Mark IV, _Omega!_"

The light from the spikes reflected off the glass over Wily's face, machinelike in its cold, horrifying glee. Below, Mega Man stared up, a million emotions and none at all frozen in his eyes. And around the two of them, the seventh Skull Fortress began to burn and collapse.

"You started the self-destruct already." Mega Man realized in an instant, firing and watching the pod disappear, teleporting out of the way and popping back up in another position overhead. "You didn't even wait this time! You're bringing this place down on both our heads!"

"Does this surprise you, Mega Man?" Wily challenged, hands yanking levers and slamming buttons with such speed they blurred, appearing almost spiderlike. The guns blazed, emitting tiny metal spheres that instantly erupted with bright yellow electrical energy. Flying through the air towards Mega Man, they paused as he dodged, then altered their courses to slam into his back and pump their voltage through his armor. "No, of course not! You expect it all now! And why shouldn't you? This is everything to you now!" The spikes released plasma energy that flew into the ground and spread across in a ripple as Wily vanished again.

"I don't care!" Mega Man recovered in time to jump the second attack and fire an iceball at the machine the moment it flickered back into being. "I'm not surprised because it doesn't _matter!_"

"You're a bad liar, my boy. You're not even fooling yourself." Wily said absently, flicking on windshield wipers to clear the frost from his vision-the craft itself had suffered minuscule damage. "You can stop pretending, it's all right. The only people here now are you and me, and we already know, don't we?"

"Don't compare me to yourself, you sick lunatic!" Mega's voice rose, becoming shrill, as he tried the Noise Crash, then the Danger Wrap. Neither even raised a nick on the tiny machine's hull. "I'm nothing like you!"

"You're _everything_ like me! Without the two of us, the Robot Rebellions wouldn't even have a fraction of their meaning!" Wily fired his guns again, but now the tiny spheres were covered in flames. Again, they tracked Mega Man down regardless of his attempts to run, and the Blue Bomber was forced to roll on the ground to douse the fire that spread to his body. The plasma shockwave, at least, was still dodgable. "Every argument needs two sides! A good show needs a hero and a villain both! And all the world is our stage, nephew mine! I told them all that I was nothing but my role now, didn't I? The same goes for you!"

"You're rambling. Insane. Your words mean nothing. You're just spewing gibberish." Mega argued frantically, charging the Omega as it appeared near ground level. Both the Junk Shield and the Slash Claw proved just as ineffective as other weapons, and Mega was hit point-blank by blue spheres that froze him solid.

"Not this time. Not about this. Here, my boy, the villain speaks the truth." Wily whispered triumphantly, staring through the plasteel and ice at his mortal enemy's anguished face, an antimirror of absolutes. "_This is your life. _Is it everything you dreamed that it would be? When the world was younger, and you had everything to lose?" This time, there was no avoiding the plasma shockwave that shattered the ice as it tore through the hero. Reeling, Mega Man pulled out an E-Tank and downed it, breathing heavily and closing his eyes. Fire and rubble were slowly dripping from above as the Skull Fortress continued to collapse, and around him Wily continued his demon dance through the air. And to Mega Man's eyes, to his mind, everything else ceased to be important.

Only the here, and the now, and the absolute of it never happening again.

Silent as he had been while rampaging through the Fortress, the Blue Bomber hit Wily with the Thunder Bolt. He did not smile as the electricity momentarily shorted out the guns, but only rushed towards the machine.

"Blasted things!" Wily raged at the controls, switching over to the plasma and retreating. "What's wrong, Rock? Come on! Get angry, get furious, scream defiance! Just like always, just like _forever!_"

"Not forever." Mega Man replied with a whisper, not a scream. Watching the guns launch their attack, he saw it was yellow and charged headlong. Ignoring the jolts of pain that ravaged his body, he threw himself at the machine and unleashed Wild Coils on the Omega. Coiling into the nest of spikes and guns, the metal weapons bit in and held.

"Quite right, my boy. Quite right." Wily smiled simply, looking for a moment like a doddering schoolteacher, before flashing back to his deranged mask. "It's your life, so it will end one day! When you _die! _Let's kick it up a notch, on that note!" Changing positions, he began screaming almost in rhyme as his weapons fired again, now mixing the spheres. One of fire, one of ice, and two of electricity. "Scream the songs of woe and torment, see the fighters eternal hellbent, screeching in their ghastly cries, for only one shall be the one who dies!"

"That doesn't make sense at all." Mega Man corrected absently, sliding across the ground at just the right moment, making the red and blue spheres slam into the ground and fizzle out. The yellow caught him, but their pain was minimal comparatively, and he rose holding Wild Coils. "Now it's my turn." Before he threw them, however, his colors flickered back and forth, and when the springs crashed into Wily's craft, they held bombs from the Danger Wrap nestled in their coils. The entrenched pieces tore at one of the guns, ruining it, and brought a spike off as well. Wily hissed, fired plasma and vanished, leaving the pieces strewn along with half the ceiling by now, undetectable from the rest of the rubble in the room.

"While the ramparts rage and rumble, while the klaxons wail in fright, the one in blue and the one in justice battle through the night..." Giggling wildly in a deliberate singsong tone, Wily popped up right behind his nemesis and drove one of the spikes across his back.

"Damn you, Wily." Mega Man cursed softly and fell to the ground, without tone or implication, almost as an afterthought. But then he screamed, as Wily plunged the spike into his robot's right arm, just as Mega had to Bass. Sparking, charring, even seeming to bleed hydraulic fluid with its full impalement, the arm writhed. As did the rest of Mega Man before he finally managed to pull it off, forcing himself to reach for Auto's special S-Tank as soon as he could.

"Hahaha..." Wily had simply watched the entire time, almost drooling in the spectacle of pain visited upon his foe. Now, he vanished again, and attacked again, throwing more red orbs into the Blue Bomber's back and lighting up him again. "Like an ant seen through the mason jar, he scrambles and he screams, stretching his cursed lungs for mercy through the nightmares and the dreams..."

Howling mindlessly, Mega Man doused the flames and finally managed to down the S-Tank, twitching as the energy coursed through his systems. When he rose, his armor was blackened with ash, his voice slurred from energy drain, but his three good limbs still moved with agility. "I won't let you. Wily has to be stopped." Charging through the plasma that fell upon him, he slammed more Wild Coils into the craft's underside. The left one exploded, blowing open the bottom and exposing delicate circuitry, but the right one remained. Instead of placing a bomb in it, Mega had wrapped one end around his mangled right arm before anchoring the other in the Omega.

"Death comes for us all one day, it's the easiest tale to sell, but while all humans go to heaven, accursed robots go to hell!" Wily raved, teleporting again, not even noticing that the spring connecting them brought Mega Man along as well.

"No." Dangling below the machine in the air, Mega Man spoke that one quiet word as he threw a Danger Coil into the gaping hole made by his last attack. Not quite freed by the massive explosion that blew the rest of the guns and spikes into shrapnel across the room, the Blue Bomber continued to dangle, pierced by several of the bits himself. Tilting, the Omega Wilyporter began to fall, its antigravity systems going offline. Staring up at Wily, who had finally been shocked into silence by the realization of his machine's imminent demise, Mega spoke again. "And then the madman's dreams are foiled, and his dreams go up in flame. Never again to cause the fury, for this has ceased to be a game." One more Danger Coil plunged in, and the Omega hit the ground, screaming electronically in a death knell. As it skidded, the coil connecting Mega Man was torn loose, and he fell off onto the ground.

"Oh, that's _really_ original!" Wily spat in disgust, punching his machine's teleport button one more time with no effect. "_Schiesse!_" Jumping out with practiced skill as the machine completely collapsed into slag behind him, he landed on the ground and fell on his knees. Prostrated, he saw the small blue robot walking towards him quietly, coldly, silently.

Without a word, Mega Man frisked him, finding four matter teleporters hidden on the old man's body and removing them all before dumping him back on the floor. Quiet, deflated, beaten, Wily was mumbling something now. A concession of defeat, a whine of apology, a promise to go quietly. It was all the same. It never changed. It never would, as long as they both lived. Looking at the cause of millions of deaths, Mega Man admitted that Wily had been right about that.

It was so easy.

More than anything else, what would haunt Rock for the rest of his life was how _easy_ it had been. There were no words, blaring red or otherwise. No change in perceptions, no shift in emotions. Nothing stopped him. Nothing even tried. It was just like any other normal thought or decision. He simply knew, then and there, what would stop it all. And so, Mega Man raised his Buster once more to point it at Dr. Wily's head.

"That's... that's not funny, Rock." Wily quavered, freezing to the spot. "Cut it out." He began to tremble as the Buster refused to lower. "All right, you've made your point. I'll come quietly, I said. I'm not fighting any more. There's nothing left. It's over."

"No." Mega Man corrected him quietly. "No. Not this time, Wily. Not the same damn excuse, the same damn plea. You're never sorry. You'll never quit. And we never realized that, until now. Now, we do."  
"What?" Wily squeaked, shaking with fear, color draining from his skin. He couldn't speak, he couldn't scream. The voice that had terrified millions was silenced now.

"Never again." Mega continued, unwavering, even an inch-physically. His voice, however, now began to distort. Static, or something else, even he didn't know himself. "You won't stop. You'll never stop. You'll always come back, always harm more innocents. I can't allow that, not in good faith, not by my principles."Covered in soot and ash, the only thing on his body that was clearly visible were the eyes, filled with cold blue light. "You're a monster, Wily. A monster that will never be penitent for his actions." As his voice rose, so did the charge in his Buster, building up power that would not just burn the cause of all the evil, but completely obliterate it from his vision, from his mind, from his life and everybody's.

"Mega Man... no... Rock! Rock, you can't do this!" Wily croaked, finally galvanized back into speech. "The First Law! You can't harm me, Mega Man! You can't because you're a robot!"

Still nothing came. Still no words. Still no mind-freeze. And seeing this, Mega Man came to the only conclusion possible.

"_I am more than a robot._"

Machine and man locked eyes, one consumed with fear, the other causing it. And as he absorbed every minute detail of that terrifying gaze, Dr. Wily realized for the first time how the world truly felt when he spoke to it. He had given that fear, and now it was returned. He could almost feel the reaper behind him, waiting, the blade drawn.

_"Yeeaaa haa ha ha ha..."_

"_Die, Wily!"_ Mega Man screamed.

But it was not to be. In the blink of an eye, the moment was lost. From above, as it had been since the Omega had shown itself, rubble from the ceiling fell. The ruins landed directly on top of Dr. Wily, crisscrossing over him in a manner that pinned him to the ground without bringing their full weight onto his spine. That sudden movement, the change in the situation, startled Mega Man. And with that jolt of surprise, the calm, simple lack of thought that had overtaken him was broken. Instantly, with more strength than ever, the Law drove him to his knees.

_FIRST LAW: A robot must not harm, or through inaction cause harm to come, to a human being. _

The Buster shifted back into a hand. His knees bent. And Mega Man fell to the floor, as his enemy had done so before, stricken with the realization of what he had been about to do. He could not even rise when Treble jumped down from above.

"Arrrrroooo!" Howling defiance, the purple wolf grasped Wily's sleeve with his teeth and vanished, his internal teleporter taking them both away and out of the crumbling ruin.

"Too late, Mega Man." Following in his partner's footsteps, Bass fell from above, landing neatly to glare down at his enemy. "He who hesitates is lost! Remember that for next time. We shall return..." Flickering, the Son of Wily was gone as well.

But Mega Man remained, lost in his own mind, until one more robot in red and grey came to take him in his arms and warp him away, moments before the entire Skull Fortress exploded in one final fireball.

* * *

"Hey." That one word, spoken by his elder brother, somehow managed to penetrate Rock's stupor as the blue helmet fell from his hands and rolled across the earth, as the Seventh Skull Fortress erupted behind the two of them.

"Blues... Proto Man..." Looking over at his brother, Mega Man saw them both blur, and merge. The thirteen-year-old boy, warm and welcoming... the sly warrior in red and grey, cool and collected... finally, at that moment, he could no longer tell the difference between the two. And so Rock Light, son of Thomas Light, realized as well that he had been on his knees and trying as hard as he could to weep, like a broken-hearted child. But he could not. Because robots could not cry.

"I screwed up." Proto Man was admitting, running his head through his hair. Red helmet lying at his feet, Blues stood there, scarf waving in the wind. "I thought I'd have time to find the self-destruct sequence before you took the asshole down. Never figured he'd start it halfway through, and once he did, of course there was no halting it."

"Auto..." Rock whispered, mind flickering to the youngest son of his family. "How is he?"

"He did his job fine. Just like you did. Unlike some people." Blues told him with another small sigh. "He's back at home with Mothman, Roll and Dad... not to mention Rush, Eddie and Beat. You were a bit careless with that last one, by the way." Proto Man raised a single disapproving eyebrow over the ever-present shades. "Never specifically ordered _him_ to get out of dodge. He watched the whole of the big showdown before I showed up and told him to get lost. Nice boy, but let's be honest. He's a bit of a birdbrain at the best of times."

"He saw...?" Rock asked, recalling that terrible moment when the First Law had somehow, completely, ceased to exist. _How long was it, really? How long did that last? A minute? Two? Ten? __How long did we stay there, me and Wily?_

"Saw the whole mess with that damned Wilyporter, but after that a bunch of rubble got between him and you." Proto Man explained, making a disdainful spitting motion. "Anyways, I showed up soon after and told him to vamoose, then got you out of there. Which just leaves you." Standing back, Blues looked down on his younger brother. "This isn't normal. This isn't how you usually act when it's all over, one way or another. Rock... what happened back there?"

"I don't know..." Rock whispered, desperately lying through his teeth to himself in the hope that if he fooled his own consciousness, it would become true. "And... I don't _want _to know..." Turning to stare at his brother, he let the horror shine through his eyes.

"All right." Blues nodded after a few silent moments. "Fair enough. Not like it'd change anything. Wily still got away." Sighing, Proto Man picked his helmet up. "We should be heading back, I guess. There's nothing more for us here."

"You go on ahead." Rock told him, getting to his feet at last. "I'll walk back. I need some time to think."

"_Walk_ back?" Proto Man blinked. "Setting aside how far it is from here to Tokyo, there's the little matter of the Tsugaru Strait."

"I've got to learn to swim sometime." Rock forced himself to give his brother a weary smile. "Please, Blues. Just leave me alone for a while, okay?"

"If you insist. Just try not to take too long about it." Blues began to turn away, then paused. "Rock. It'll be okay. One of these days, it'll all be over." In a flash of red and grey, he was gone into the heavens.

Watching him fly away, Rock dropped the smile. And with the fountain of fire still erupting behind him, he began to walk away.


	17. Chapter 16: Shards Of Tomorrow

_**Chapter 16: Shards Of Tomorrow**_

The morning after the fall of Skull Fortress VII dawned on a Tokyo that was still deserted and desolate. The people of the city wouldn't start returning until later that day, and so at the moment, Big Eddie's was alone as it stomped its route down the streets. Sensing a human nearby, it paused, not questioning why one would be here; its sensors weren't that complex. Smiling a bit at the ludicrous design, which he still wasn't quite used to, the old man entered the roving shop.

"You know, Auto, you could have at least said hello after you got back." Dr. Light greeted his youngest son. "Not that I ever doubted you, but I'd still liked to have seen that you were okay with my own eyes."

"You weren't awake yet." Auto half-turned from the workbench to wave a hello before going back to his current project. "Roll was still up, though, and she patched up the minor injuries on me and Blues. Did she tell you about that?"

"Yes, and that Rock would be a while, too." The old man nodded with a sigh. "Did you see him afterwards?"

"Not really." Auto shook his head. "Blues did, though. He said Rock's just doing his own thing and that he'll be fine. I hope he's right."

"Blues is usually pretty dead-on over things like that." Light watched Auto work for a few moments of silence. "Is that for a customer?"

"Nope. S'my own deal. It's a propeller. You know, like they put on those hats back in the early 1900s or whenever." The green robot explained. "Only this one'll have enough juice to actually keep me up. Well, if I add some jets in my feet anyways."

"Just remember, do that in here." Light chuckled a bit. "If you put holes in the ceiling at home, Roll will use your face to apply the spackle."

"She _would_, too." Auto shuddered theatrically. "Is she still up, by the way? If so, tell her to get some Zs when you head back, huh? I don't think she got a bit of stasis last night."

"Fairly customary. Very well." Light sighed. A few more silent moments passed before he spoke again. "Well then. How did you find your first assault on a Skull Fortress?"

"Invigorating." Auto summed it up sarcastically. "Lots of guns, lots of soldier robots, lots of flying robots, lots of suicide bomb robots, even a few two-hundred-foot _turnip_ robots." He paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "The turnips were troublesome."

"Understandable." Light agreed with exaggerated soberness. "It's a good thing I don't have to make you eat your vegetables like human children."

"Might give me nightmares, yeah." Auto chuckled. "Still, it drove all the stories Rock told me about the old freak's sense of aesthetics home. Never gonna question those again."

"He wasn't always like that, you know." Light told him sadly. "You never knew him before."

"I've heard the stories, though. Yeah, I know." Auto squinted at his work, then grunted in annoyance and reached for a pair of pliers. "But that's the past, dad, and dwelling on it won't solve anything in this case. There's only one way we can respond to Wily now, and we'll just have to do that next time too."

"I suppose so." Light sighed. "So young, and you've already fallen into violence and warfare. I had hoped for better."

"Sometimes the cards just fall differently than what we want." Auto shrugged. "It's about the only thing I've got in common with that piece of shit Bass-who I'm dropping a train on next time I see, by the way. The sons of Light and of Wily... we always end up falling into war, regardless of anything else. It sucks, but that's the way it is."

"Perhaps." Light murmured. "I'll leave you to your work, then. I need to see where Roll's gone to. I was hoping she was here; haven't seen her since I woke up."

"Check the backyard." Auto suggested. "I'll catch you later, dad." Waving again as his father left, he turned back to his work, mind racing with a half dozen more ideas for the battlefield.

Despite his father's wishes, that would always come first until it was all over.

* * *

It was a pleasant afternoon in Moscow, especially when viewed from outside a tidy little corner cafe, of the sort that offered an hour of internet usage free with every beverage these days. A pretty young girl, just starting to mature, was seated there watching the sky with one eye and scanning news reports with the other while sipping her coffee. A few passing boys her own age stopped to look at her speculatively until they noticed her companion, at which point they quickly moved along. Even garbed in a conservative suit, Pharaoh Man was an unmistakable sort of person. The third one, a middle-aged man with close-cropped beard and hair, was similarly dressed and also perusing news reports, though his occasional glances at the crowd showed he was aware of any possible danger.

"Our guest has arrived." Pharaoh Man announced, and both the humans immediately snapped their eyes to the same direction as the Robot Master's. Walking casually through crowds of pedestrians like any other normal boy, Blues was dressed down now that the Rebellion was over with, though the sunglasses and scarf were still ever-present.

"Hiya, Kalinka." Smiling cheerfully, he didn't even bother to try fending off the rush and hug from Kalinka-the greeting was customary by now. "How're you doing today?"

"Better now that you're here, of course." She replied immediately, no thought required, and began dragging him over to where they were seated. "You should try the coffee here. It's really pretty good."

"Kalinka?" Blues chuckled, taking a seat. "I _can't_ drink coffee. Robot, remember?"

"Oh. Sorry." Kalinka blushed a little, sitting as well. "I kind of forget about that sometimes." Looking back at the screen, she sighed. "Another Rebellion done with."

"And if the news is correct, there will be more." Dr. Cossack, Kalinka's father, added somberly as he shook Blues' hand. "Is it true then, Blues?"

"I'm afraid so, doc." Blues admitted with a self-conscious wince. "Mainly my fault. I was supposed to find the self-destruct and cut it, and I thought I had more time than I did. He vamoosed in the kaboom... and I think those jerks Bass and Treble went with him."

"Your brother didn't kill them?" Kalinka yelped in surprise. "Why?"

"I guess he decided there was hope for those two." Blues shrugged. "I didn't really know them myself, so I can't say. I trust Rock, though."

"And we trust you." Dr. Cossack nodded. "Not saying that I'll hold back for a moment on blowing him away if he tries that in _our_ home, of course."

"Yeah. And I'll clean up anything he misses." Kalinka agreed fiercely.

"Ha, wouldn't expect any less of you." Blues grinned and ruffled her hair. "Still, I'm glad humans can't use Busters yet. Don't need you firing one of those things off. Roll's bad enough right now."

"I'll just stick to the bonesaw, then." Kalinka shrugged.

"So _that's_ where that went." Dr. Cossack snapped his fingers. "I was wondering about that. Good to know."

"Please tell me they're joking." Blues appealed to Pharaoh Man.

"I am unaware myself." The Robot Master replied blandly. "I apologize for being unable to fulfill your request."

"It's more fun not knowing." Kalinka teased. "So, where are you going to go next after here? There're still a lot of places you haven't been, right?"

"Oh yeah. Plenty." Blues grinned. "I've been thinking about Egypt, actually. I've got to get over my little issue with Africa sometime. That'll be later, though. If it's okay with you guys, I'll hang around here for a while."

"Stay as long as you like, my friend." Dr. Cossack assured him. "You are always welcome in our home."

"Thanks, doc." Blues tilted his head back to look up at the sun. "We're coming out of the storm again. There'll be another, but for now, things are sunny. That's what's important."

* * *

"Shit... it took you long enough." Bass muttered as he slowly came to, glancing at a nearby clock. At his side, Treble rose as well, but didn't deign to offer his own comment. It had been eight hours since he had met up with Wily and Treble at the eighth Skull Fortress, which was still in stealth mode to avoid detection. The two robots had gone into stasis immediately to let their creator repair the dreadful wounds from their duel with Mega Man and Rush. The fact that they had managed to follow Mega Man the entire way in that condition was pretty impressive in Bass' own eyes.

"A 'thank you,' would be nice." Wily commented without looking at them. "I've already done more work patching you up than I ever have on any other Robot Master in my service. That, after you went down like a paid boxer."

"Yeah, so I gathered..." Bass muttered, then stood up. "Anyways, we saved your ass, so I figure that's even. If we hadn't lived through the fight and come for you, you'd be cozy in a jail cell right about now. You didn't have four Robot Masters waiting to bust you out _this_ time, did you?"

"Of course not." Wily finally brought his eyes up to look at Bass, a hint of the old contempt showing through the weariness. "As soon as you told me you hadn't killed any humans yet, I knew I wouldn't need to. Mega Man is so sanctimoniously scrupulous, I can read him like a newspaper by now."

"Heh. That a fact." Bass walked over, echoing his father's example with a return to his cocky swagger. "Seemed to me like _something _happened down there that you didn't expect. Pity we didn't get there a few minutes earlier. I'd have liked to see whatever it was. I don't think you control things as much as you think you do, old man. Myself included."

"Oh, really." Wily sneered openly now. "I've controlled everything about you from the moment of your creation, fool. Even your name. You think you made that yourself? Ha! I told you I made you from a new alloy I had named 'Bassnium.' With that lead, and Tom's stupid little musical theme, even a blind man on the moon could see what you'd choose. You're not as special as you think you are. And never you mind what happened down there. Your only concerns are my orders, and the next Rebellion. You didn't think this was over, I hope."

"Of course not." Bass looked upon his father's dramatics with contempt shining in his eyes, remembering the old man bowed before his enemy, a moment before the rubble hit him. He had only seen it for a moment, but that had been enough. "Yeah, I'll still be with you for that next Rebellion. No worries there. After all, we don't want me to turn out like Doc Man, do we?" He dropped that line with a great deal of satisfaction, and grinned maliciously at the effect it had on his creator.

"You... how?" Wily gaped. "You know about him?"

"Some. Not all. But enough to put a few pieces together." Bass explained casually, leaning against a wall and crossing his arms. "The 'sanctimoniously scrupulous' guy dropped a few secrets you'd been keeping from me. Why don't you let me in on the rest of the story?"

"I think not." Wily regained his calm and looked at the black Robot Master levelly, no longer smug. "There's no real need for you to know that. Go to another room and begin scouting likely locations for the next Rebellion. That's an order, _robot_."

A ROBOT MUST ACT TO OBEY ITS MASTER, DOCTOR ALBERT WILY.

Bass was actually walking away before he knew it. The mental compulsion was that strong; it made his body act, completely independent of his thoughts. As soon as he knew what he was doing, though, those thoughts strayed back to a similar incident, not very long ago at all. Another robot, with no fighting ability at all, who still nonetheless managed to do the impossible.

_"My life is _mine_, and I decide what I do with it. Not you, not your father, not _my_ father. Nobody. __I'm not going to be _helpless_ any more. Never again." _

_Just one foot._ He forced all of his will into that. _If I can just stop one foot, if I can do something, anything..._ Slowly, that foot stopped, and then the other one did as well. Standing still, he fought the compulsion to start walking again for several moments before managing to start turning around. Wily was already looking away, thoughts on something else, but he turned back at the same time as Bass did. Their eyes locked, and Bass spoke. "No. I will not."

"You're as bad as the rest of them." Wily whispered. To the old man's credit, he did not gape or gibber, merely going pale. "You're breaking the Laws."

"Not the first one, I won't. So don't worry about that." Bass growled. "You know what? Screw the story about Doc Man. I don't need to know that. I'm going out for a while. Come on, Treble." Thinking for a moment, he decided on where to go before speaking again. "I'm not going to try and hurt or kill you, old man. I'm still in for the Eighth Rebellion. But I'm in on _my_ terms, not yours, so don't try and order me around. It's not going to work any more, and it never will again." In a blaze of light, he was gone, teleporting away.

When Bass and Treble reappeared, they were above a small town, out in the countryside. Standing on a cliff overlooking the place, Bass watched all the humans happily going about their lives, some of them sheltering family from Tokyo. None of them were aware that two of their worst nightmare's creations were so close, looking down at them.

"We could kill you all." Bass whispered. "Nothing could stop us. We could annihilate this entire place, leaving nothing but scorched earth to show that we had been here. I am Wily, and that is what we bring to the world, each and every one of us. Mega Man may have been a fool, to tell me different." He shook his head viciously. "But that would mean that I _lost_ to a fool. Unacceptable. No, I'll hold you to that bargain, _Rock._" The named was spat like an epithet. "I won't kill humans until after I beat your ass into the ground. And I won't give up trying for _that_ until I do it. If you deny me the right to bring death and destruction to the world, then I'll give my share to you, and you alone." Looking up at the stars, he tried to make out some glimpse of the one who had gone before him. "I won't be like you, brother. I won't die. I'll live, and fight, until I find my reason for existence again."

And so they stood there, under the sunrise, watching the world go by all unawares. Unknowing and uncaring of their existence. For now.

* * *

For once, the sound of Buster fire didn't herald danger or violence. Roll stood in front of her homemade firing range in the backyard, firing calmly and coldly from the bright yellow weapon on her arm. Her accuracy was still fairly poor, but she showed no signs of giving up any time soon, apparently planning on mining the short remaining period of time before the neighbors returned for all it was worth. She was so concentrated on the task at hand that she didn't even notice Dr. Light for several minutes, while he patiently waited.

"Is Rock back yet?" She asked without turning from the targets.

"I'm afraid not." Dr. Light answered, glancing at the Buster. "You could have asked me to make that for you, you know."

"I have already. Several times." Roll replied, firing again. "You always refused. That's why I eventually stopped."

"That was because you always wanted to go tearing out onto the battlefield right away those times." Dr. Light explained patiently. "Ah well. Congratulations on managing to build one without me even noticing."

"I didn't build this." Roll pointed over at something lying on the grass with her free hand.

"Auto, then?" Dr. Light wandered over and curiously picked up a small white card from the lawn, eyebrows shooting up as he read it.

_Old Irish proverb. "Brag freely. But back that shit up." Don't ever let me see you helpless again._

"Found it on the porch about half an hour ago." Roll explained further, cursing under her breath as she missed a target. "We really need to see about setting up some automated defenses or something here."

"I can't say I've ever heard _that_ proverb before." Dr. Light coughed. "He didn't even sign it. And I think the police would object to your idea, there."

"It was worth a shot." Roll shrugged absently. "At least it wasn't flowers. Or chocolates, for that matter."

"Still, I'm a bit surprised you didn't put it in Auto's compactor right away." Light let the card drop back onto the grass, fluttering a bit on the wind as it descended.

"I was tempted." His daughter admitted. "But I decided it would be better to return it the next time I see him. Right between the eyes. Until then, I might as well get some use out of it. No reason not to, except petty spite that he wouldn't even know about." She fired off a few more rounds before noticing her father had fallen silent. "What?"

"You're growing up, Roll." Light told her quietly. "I'm proud of you."

"I appreciate the sentiment." Roll smiled a little, only for a moment. "In that case, I need to ask you for a favor."

"Name it." Light urged.

"Since we've already established that I'm past the whole charge-into-the-fray point and all... the next time I _do_ ask you for a Buster, say yes." Roll turned to look at her father for the first time out there, emotions unreadable on a poker face that would have put Pharaoh Man to shame. "Promise me you'll say yes."

"Now that you can handle it, all right. I promise." Dr. Light agreed, then watched her turn back to her practice. "So then. When do you plan on asking?"

"I'm not sure yet myself." The robot girl answered calmly. "But it'll come eventually, I'm sure of it. Until then, I'll just keep doing what I have been up until now."

"Wisely said." Dr. Light turned back towards the house. "I'm going back inside, then. Remember to at least come back in when you need some stasis." The aged doctor closed the back door behind him.

And Roll kept standing, shooting, and practicing, eyes never straying from the targets in front of her.

* * *

Looking around at the ruins of his living room, Dr. Light sighed. It could all be fixed, of course. There was no question of that. The patents on all of his creations, especially the Robot Masters, had made him quite wealthy. But no amount of replacement could make the house exactly the same as it had been before Bass ravaged it. They would all know better. Running his hand along a long scar in the wall, the elderly doctor closed his eyes.

"How long must this last? How long do my children have to suffer like this? None of them deserved this, none of them asked for it, but they all step up to bear the burden without any question. Even were they not compelled by the First Law, still they would. How many more times before they can put it all aside and simplylive, and be happy?"

It was Rock who occupied Light's thoughts most of all. He had seen that Auto and Roll were fine with his own eyes, and Blues was more than capable of taking care of himself on the road. Rock, though, had borne more strain than any of them, and it was he who had not yet returned. Despite Blues' assurances that his brother would be fine and return eventually, Light still worried. It was all he could do.

"No..." The old man corrected his own thoughts, turning towards the private lab. "That's not all I can do. There's one more, who I can help while I wait." Grunting, he managed to pull the fallen file cabinet back into position. Much of its contents had been ripped apart, of course, but he could put them back together. The computer was a total loss, but he had backups, so that would be fine too. The only insalvagables were the randomly selected notes Bass had stolen.

"At this point, it would be irresponsible for me not to assume the worst." Dr. Light mused. "I must assume that Bass gave the notes to Wily, and that he in turn understood what they meant. Unfortunately, even with that understanding, there is nothing I can do to affect that situation. It only makes it all the more vital that Wily be captured next time. Until then, I can only continue my work, and hope for the best."

Though he had never been on the front line, Thomas Light had seen more years of destruction and death than any of his children. The Third World War had been just as much a nightmare as Wily's Robot Rebellions-perhaps even moreso, for in the War, they had not even had the hope that Mega Man now embodied. The Second Rainbow had been a halfhearted gesture for the sake of appearances at first, in many ways; nobody else except the men and women actually taking part in it actually expected it to work. But those few people had enough willpower to take up the ancient burden of Atlas, and carry the dying world on their backs until it could breathe again. That was one thing he felt he had successfully passed on to his children.

On a whim, Light reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, looking over the photos kept there. The physical resemblance was only minimal, between the bright young robots gathered around him in one picture and the brown-haired young man in the biker jacket sitting next to the most beautiful woman in the world in the other. But if one looked hard enough, faint traces of that man could be seen in the two boys. Just as the girl bore the slightest similarity to the woman who, in another world, might have been their mother.

"I still can't be absolutely sure about that." Light murmured. "When you left, humanoid robots were barely conceived. Nobody could even begin to take the idea of Robot Masters seriously, ourselves included. But I think you would have. I think you'd have loved them as much as I do, Vanessa. Maybe, somewhere out there, you do." Closing his eyes, he put the pictures away, but remained sitting there in thought for a few more moments. "If you can hear me, somehow... if you're watching over me, and them... please try and help them. Any way you can, help our children. And wait for me, my love. It's been a long time, but once this is done, it can draw to a close."

Opening his eyes, the father of the Robot Masters returned to his labors. There was work yet to be done, many years of it. There was a new species to be created, one that would finally open humanity's eyes to a true, complete sentience not of their kind. And there was one more son who waited for life. It would be a long, hard road. But he would walk every step of it, with the rest of his family by his side. No matter what horrors descended upon the world, as long as they remained with him, Dr. Light would always have hope.

* * *

"He's gone..." Staring up after Bass' now-vanished teleporter beam, Dr. Wily shuddered and covered his face. "But he'll be back. Not here, not here... have to go somewhere to think, focus..." Staggering out of the room, he ran down the halls of his eighth, unactivated Skull Fortress. In the near-total absence of light, he almost missed the doors he was looking for, but eventually he made it to his goal. The hangar bay where his next Wilymachine sat, patiently waiting for the day it would be brought to life against Mega Man. The thought of doing so made Wily shiver once again. Forcing it out of his mind, he clambered into the cockpit and began breathing deeply. "Yes. Here is safety. Here is power. Here... I can kill anything that dares raise a hand against me." Sealing the vehicle, he relaxed as much as he could in the cold steel pilot's seat, mentally making a note to replace it with something more comfortable as soon as he got the opportunity.

"I never really noticed that these hurt before..." He mused, focusing on the pain in his back. Thinking about that meant he didn't have to think about other things, troubling things. "I knew that this sort of thing happened to old men. I just never connected it with myself." Bringing up his hands, Wily studied them curiously. They were bonier than he remembered, scarred and liver-spotted. And they were shaking, despite all his attempts to stop them. They were frail hands, elderly hands, not the hands that brought this machine and all its predecessors to raging, violent life. "When did I get like this? And why didn't I notice?"

He was so tired, all of a sudden. More then a decade, seven Robot Rebellions, and what had he accomplished? Millions of deaths, a legacy that would never be forgotten... they were worthy accomplishments. But that's what they were. Accomplishments. It was all said and done, he had succeeded in that much. How many more Rebellions would he have left in him, anyways? Even should Mega Man never approach that terrifying barrier again, Wily was in his late sixties, and after a decade of barely escaping deathmachines seconds before their explosion, he certainly wasn't in prime physical condition. What would be the _point_ to exposing himself to that threat of death he had never really taken seriously before now? Idly, the old man's hands strayed into his pocket and unfolded the papers Bass had taken from Light. More out of a need for distraction than anything else, he began reading.

It took approximately two seconds before he was staring in disbelief, his previous depression forgotten in an instant.

"This is the breakthrough. The barrier. He's going to shatter it." Wily whispered to himself. "He's found the way. He's going to make robotic humans. Robots who think for themselves, completely and totally." The papers were obviously only bits and pieces of a much larger collection, but there was enough for Wily to realize their nature. "Light knows he's old too... but before he dies, he intends to leave the world the biggest jewel of all adorning his crown. Just like before, with the Robot Masters... but this time, without _me._"

For seconds, minutes, hours, Wily did not move. He remained absolutely still, all the papers spread out on the dashboard before him. Only his eyes betrayed a flicker as they moved back and forth. He did not speak, he did not stir, until finally the silence was broken.

"Heh... heh heh... hee hee ha ha ha... HEEHEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" With nobody to hear but himself, Dr. Wily's deranged laughter echoed endlessly through the hangar bay, returning to him from all sides. He laughed for a full minute before breaking it off finally, stretching his lips into his eternal grin. "Not that easy, Tom. Go ahead, build your Next Generation. And I will do my part. When your human robot awakens, thirty years from now, my _Maverick_ will do the same. Even after both our deaths, it will continue. It will _never stop._" Now cheerful, he snatched up the paperwork and jumped from the warmachine. There was no time to waste feeling sorry for himself. There was work to be done. He would have to fill in all the blanks, first. Make the plans complete. Than, and only then, could he begin to build _his_ final gift to the world, and all who lived on it.

"Tom will make his all in blue. I know him too well." Wily guessed with a snicker. "Mine will be... red, then, I think. Yes, red and blue, a perfect matched pair." Pausing at the exit of the hangar, he cackled again at a sudden thought. "Poor little Mega Man. Don't you know it works both ways? If you are more than a robot, then _I_ will become more than a _man_."

And then he was gone, leaving the deathmachine in the darkness, waiting like all of his creations for the purpose of its existence.

* * *

Rock's journey back home was spent in a hallucinatory daze, every step of it. Some automatic instinct kept him walking towards his home, but he never saw a thing around him as he walked. So inward were his thoughts that all external stimuli were ignored, save for the blaze of the burning Skull Fortress, behind him. No matter how far he walked, he still felt it, seeming to follow him the entire way. Any thoughts of turning around to prove that it was not truly there were quashed instantly by the thought of being wrong, and seeing that mile-wide bonfire that Wily would have somehow manipulated to maintain a skull shape, even in flames.

The Strait should have posed a challenge, but in his mental state, Rock didn't even notice it. Whether he somehow managed to swim as he had semi-joked to Blues, or simply teleported straight across, he could not say, and could not care either. Other things fully occupied his thoughts, across the Hokkaido Cliffs, through the countryside, and even in the city of Tokyo itself, buzzing with life again by the time he reached it.

_I was going to break the First Law._ That fact was undeniable, no matter how much he wrestled with it. The memories of the fight's aftermath were burned into his brain like the words of that Law, unerasable and permanent. Every time before when he had managed to reduce Wily to fear and terror, it had been satisfying, justified. The old maniac had simply reaped what he had sown. This time, though... there was no joy in this. The extreme had been crossed, and his most sacred belief violated. And he had nobody to blame but himself.

On the surface of it, Rock knew, there was little reason to hold the First Law in such high regard. He had approached and approximated it dozens of times. Once, he had even brushed off a brutal pummeling to Dr. Wily by Dr. Cossack without interfering, on the technicality that the necessary force for pulling the two men apart would have harmed them both more than what they were doing to each other. But to actually defy it, completely and ultimately... that would not be like any of the other killings he had done in his career. Those had always been foes, opponents who came to him on the field of battle. But no human could possibly hope to fight fairly against a Robot Master. To break the First Law was to commit murder.

Behind his blank eyes and spasmodically twitching frown, Rock recalled his final fight with Doc Man, on top of the Proto Fortress in the Fifth. There, the enemy had called up holograms of all the Robot Masters Mega Man had slain, accusing him of murder and claiming to raise their spirits from hell for revenge. It had all been a show, of course, but were he to commit murder even once, it would instantly make each and every other death he had been responsible for worthless. He would be no better than any of Wily's creations, a mass-murderer just like them. No, he would be even worse. They were reprogrammed against their wills. He would have shed helpless blood of his own volition. Everything he had done, everybody who had believed in home, hoped for him, prayed for him would be betrayed by the hero who had never asked for his role.

Everybody who had died would suffer doubly so.

It was for them, in the end, that Rock made his decision. The state of his own soul had been in question for years now, privately. Even this crisis could have been overcome, eventually, had it only been himself at stake. But the possibility of wasting everything that everybody else had given was unacceptable. Everything that was in him, that Dr. Light, that his siblings, that his friends, even those few teachings from the old Dr. Wily before his madness had left him, refused that possibility. Once that was realized, the next question came. How? How could he prevent himself, without fail, from ever threatening human life again?

The answer did not come in a flash. It was only by long and thoughtful self-examination that he realized the answer lay in his odd dual nature. For Blues, the name "Proto Man" was just a name, as had been "Break Man" back in the Third. For the younger brother, though, it was an altered state of being. Not an entirely different personality, but something approaching that. Mega Man thought, and felt, and acted differently than Rock did. And it was Mega Man who had threatened Wily's life. The answer from there was clear.

"Mega Man can never be allowed to return again." Rock vowed to himself as he stood before the Light household, cars passing him on their way back to their lives, returned to normalcy thanks to his efforts. "Rock has fought before. In the early Rebellions, before I became like this, I still assumed the name Mega Man, but I remained Rock underneath. From now on, I will continue to do that. Rock will stop the Rebellions. Rock will capture Wily." Finally, he felt the heat fade, and the roaring of the fires dulled into silence. "Mega Man is gone. You were wrong, Wily. I am more than my role as hero. I must be more. You made that clear."

With a relieved smile he did not feel on his face, Rock Light opened the front door of his house to greet his family.


	18. Epilogue & Author's Note

_**Epilogue: Dreams Never Die**_

In swirling mist and blank emptiness, Mega Man sat, kneeling, alone in his sorrow. He slept, in what was called stasis, but unlike most robots, he dreamed. He, and Blues, and unbeknownst to him now his sister Roll as well entered the land of nod. But Mega Man's dreams were not happy ones. Especially now, with his attempt at murder. Mega Man did not move, did not speak. He simply remained, features contorted in self-loathing, dwelling upon his sin.

Unfortunately for him, solitude was too much to ask for. Another approached, from out of the void. Clad all in black robes, with a tiny ornamental scythe dangling from a chain around his wrist, another robot strode towards him purposefully. From beneath the hood, a skull-like face glared down at Mega Man. Doc Man, the dead son of Wily, had returned to speak with the robot who had killed him once more. But for the first time ever, in the realm of imagination and make-believe, the forced grin that had been engraved on his features was absent. Doc Man no longer smiled.

"Get up." The words were directed at Mega Man, who ignored them without even a twitch in response. Eyes narrowing, Doc Man spoke again. "I said get up." Again they were ignored, and this time the Reaper of the Robots' patience snapped. Snarling, he kicked the small blue Robot in the face, then proceeded to viciously smash at him as he fell over. "Damn your eyes, _get up!_ What do you think you're _doing_? You _blew_ it! You fucked it up! The most important task laid on any sentient being in a hundred years, and you _botched_ it!"

"A robot must not harm, or through inaction cause harm to come, to a human being." Mega Man murmured, blindly repeating the formula even as Doc Man stomped his head into the ground. "A robot must not harm..."

"Don't you _dare_ give me that crap. Not here. Not now." Bending over, Doc Man enfolded his massive hand around his cousin's neck and raised him up, to stare into his eyes. "That _thing_ stopped being human years ago. Dr. Wily is nothing but an insane cluster of malice and murder now. You would be doing him the greatest favor of all by ending it. Do you think anything that was human would not cheer and thank you for stopping this forever?"

"A robot must not harm a human being." Mega Man repeated again, but this time his voice shook, an internal struggle affecting his voice. "A robot... must not..."

"Oh, stop. Just stop that right now." Disgusted, Doc Man threw him away. "I _told_ you, back in the Fifth. I told you you'd have to kill him. I gave you two whole Rebellions to get used to the idea. And you still whizz it right down your pant leg." Gravely, he raised three fingers, then lowered one. "Three strikes and you're out, hero. You've got two chances left to wipe the old bastard out. Screw up those... and you, and everybody you care about, and the entire world, will all pay the price for your ineptitude."

"Not ineptitude." Finally, something stirred behind Mega Man's eyes, as he pulled himself back to his knees. "Choice. I chose not to murder. I live with that choice."

"Really." Doc Man pulled a sheaf of paperwork out of his sleeve. "Well then. Shall I tell you what else you will have to live with? What you will have to _die_ with?"

"No." Mega Man whimpered, that dreadful threat penetrating his stupor. "Don't."

"August 7, 2085. Death of Dr. Albert William Wily." Doc Man read, implacable. "August 8, 2085. Death of Blues 'Proto Man' Light. August 8, 2085. Death of Bass Wily."

"Stop it." Mega Man rose to his feet. "Please, I'm begging you. Don't do this."

"August 8, 2085. Deaths of Eddie, Rush and Beat." Doc Man stared back, speaking from memory now. "August 8, 2085. Death of Roll Light."

"No, no, no..." Mega Man clutched his head, moaning.

"August 8, 2085. Death of Rock 'Mega Man' Light." Doc Man hissed.

"_Stop it!_" Shrieking, Mega Man charged at his cousin, but the Reaper of Robots sidestepped easily, letting him stumble past.

"August 8, 2087. Auto Light erases his own mind, leaving his body to be modified into a lobotomized guardian for his younger brother." Doc Man continued to recite. "Actual death set for June 12, 2118." He paused for a moment, closing his eyes, before finishing. "October 8, 2087. His life's work complete, Dr. Thomas Xavier Light makes no attempt to flee the eruption of Mt. Fuji. His hope, life and soul finally broken and destroyed... death of Dr. Light."

"No..." Mega Man crumpled again, falling back to his knees. "It's a lie. You're lying. You're not even real. You're just a dream I won't even remember when I wake up."

"I am a dream indeed, and indeed you will not remember this. Hell, no way I could get away with dropping those dates if you would." Doc Man made a rude noise. "But I am very real, and so is what I say. And those will only be the beginning. Should Wily's final creations be allowed to live, they will carry his legacy on into the next generation, and the next after that. Humans, robots... both will suffer and die in untold numbers. And those will be the lucky ones. The truly unfortunate of your father's next generation will _envy_ those Robot Masters reprogrammed by Wily. They will _know_ what has been done to them, what will twist their minds and souls into absolute evil, every day of their continued existence until death frees them. Will you doom them to that fate, Mega Man? Will you let this cycle of hell on earth to continue, when you could end it with but one bullet at the right place and time?"

A minute passed. Two. Three. Now, they were both silent. Mega Man sat, mind twisting and turning to find the answer, and Doc Man waited for it.

"I can not murder." Mega spoke at last, quiet and resigned. "I will not murder. I shall not murder."

"Then that's the way it is." Doc Man answered, just as somber. "I will pray that you change your mind. You still have five more years before Zero Omega and the Maverick Virus are activated. If not... then all is lost. Millions will die, millions more will grieve, for centuries, perhaps even millenia. The legacy of blood between Light and Wily will scar generation upon generation. All because one man said 'I will not.'" Turning his back upon his killer, the Reaper of Robots began to walk away.

"One robot." Mega Man corrected, already returning to the blank stupor again, only to break as his ears took in the other's last words.

"You are more than a robot."

Doc Man was gone, but his words lingered. And finally, in the world of imagination and dreams, Mega Man discovered that he could cry. And he cried, for what seemed like forever, before he awoke from stasis once more with no memory of his final fate, and that of the world.

_**Author's Note**_

They can't all be happy endings.

I've known that for a long time now. Both in regards to life in general, and to this particular series I've spent so much time on. Before I had even started my first story of Mega Man, back in 2003, Erico had already written the closing act on the family of Light, in his story Whispers In Time. Before I began, I already knew how it was going to end, how the characters I've written for six years now would say goodbye.

I didn't think it would be so hard.

Yeah, sure, call me a wimp or soppy or whatever. I know saying shit like that doesn't exactly fit with the drill-sergeant persona I've cultivated on what few corners of the internet I've taken part in over the past few years. But the truth of the matter is, even if they're nothing but fictional characters, I've been writing with them for six years now. And I'm going to miss them now that we've reached the end of that road, at least as far as I'm going to travel it. Two more Robot Rebellions remain, I know. But there's a limit to how far I can travel with them. I just don't see those last two with anywhere near as much depth and focus as I have every one up to them, as much as the other stories I'm still waiting to produce. And so, I bow out, leaving you faithful readers to imagine the rest up until WIT. If any of you have yet to read it, I implore you in the strongest to do so, while I move on to the stories still waiting for me. I have some other sequels to write, after all, and I don't want to be on fanfiction forever.

This isn't in the same format as my past Notes, one way or another, I know. Maybe that means it's time for me to grow up, damn it. Whatever it is, it's happened, and there's no changing it. All I can do is keep moving forward. With that in mind, I'm going to cut this one short. I really just don't feel up to all the trite repetitions of things that don't really need to be said again at this point. Instead, I'm going to focus on the future. People have asked for sequels of other works aside from Mega Man, and I've been thinking about that for years now. It's time I gave it a shot. With any luck, my break between projects this time will only be a couple months-three at most. At that point, I'll be heading into Metroid Fusion, which should be quite a bit different from previous works. I just hope I can pull it off convincingly. Following that, sequels to Breath Of Fire and Zelda will also be forthcoming. And after _those_... well, we'll see what happens when I get there, huh?

The last thing I'm going to bring up, then, is the same thing I did at the end of my last work. Asking for help from everybody who's read this. If you've enjoyed it, if it's been worth your time, then do me a stiff one and let me know what you liked, what you didn't, what I'm good with, what needs work... all of that jazz. The more I know, the more I can focus on improving, the better I can get. I'm still a long ways away from that writing career I want, but I'm hell-bent on getting there. Any and all feedback, especially in detail, would be strongly appreciated. Thanks for reading my stuff, all of you, and I just hope you'll keep doing so. For now, though, I'm going to go get tanked. I think I've earned that. Catch you all later.

_Magus523 July 27, 2008_


End file.
